A childhood interrupted
For fourteen-year-old Nyashadzahse Shekaina from Zimbabwe, growing up had meant learning to live within limits. Diagnosed early in life with Tetralogy of Fallot a complex congenital heart condition Nyasha knew breathlessness and uncertainty as constant companions. Repeated hospitalisations pulled her away from school, from friends, from the ordinary rhythms of childhood. Despite ongoing medical care in her home country, the definitive treatment she needed remained out of reach.
Finding the right hands
Her path to healing changed when she was referred to Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SMSIMSR) in India. There, the team conducted a thorough cardiac evaluation echocardiography, CT angiography, and cardiac catheterisation confirming the full complexity of her condition: major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs) and a large malaligned ventricular septal defect contributing to her symptoms.
Two procedures, one remarkable day
The treatment that followed was as bold as it was precise. Paediatric cardiologist Dr Annie Arvind first performed a MAPCAs procedure in the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory to optimise blood flow to the lungs. On the very same day, Chief Cardiac Surgeon and Director of the Heart Valve Bank Dr C S Hiremath led corrective surgery to close the ventricular septal defect and relieve the obstruction in Nyasha’s pulmonary artery. It was a demanding, carefully coordinated intervention and it worked.
Home, healthy, and looking forward
Under the dedicated care of the SMSIMSR team, Nyasha made a steady recovery. She has now returned to Zimbabwe breathing freely, ready to go back to school and reclaim the future that was always waiting for her. Her story is a quiet but powerful testament to what becomes possible when world-class medicine is offered not as a privilege, but as an act of love.