Sleepless nights of worry and tension are over for a Levuka couple after their only child successfully underwent a free heart surgery at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital in Nasese, Suva this week.
Luisa Cavalevu said her 6-year-old daughter Asata Dauvere went through a lot and fear of losing her was always surrounding their thoughts since she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at the age of one.
“She used to have breathing problems and then we took her to the hospital. That’s when we found out she has a heart problem.”
“My husband and I are working at Pafco and we know how hard life has begun. So I had to let go of my job to look after my daughter because she was sensitive.”
“I had to be very careful in her everyday life from her food, shower, walking, running or even noise.”
“Sometimes we had to rush her to the hospital if she found it hard to breathe and the cost surrounding that was a lot. Life was very hard and we had to fight daily for our daughter’s life.”
Cavalevu revealed the circumstances that surrounded them but they were determined to get her daughter’s heart surgery done which happened to be just a few kilometres away from their home.
“The doctors told us that children’s heart surgery is done overseas because we don’t have any local doctors doing that here. We lost hope because we were not financially stable.”
“If I had gone to work then there wasn’t anyone to look after my daughter. We had the trust in God that he would answer our prayers and he did through this hospital and surgeons.”
“We got to know about this hospital on Facebook and we contacted them last year. They advised us to visit their screening in Levuka and we were given the surgery date in January.”
“When we came to the hospital, I was scared. I was pleading with the surgeons to save my daughter because we came from far away. She had a rough journey as well. The doctors told me to stay strong and keep faith in God.”
“On the day of surgery, I was just sitting in the room and praying that my daughter gets well. After the surgery, the surgeons came and said it was a successful operation. I cried. I cried because it was like a new life for my daughter and my family.”
“I’m very thankful to this hospital and the surgeon who gave a new life to our family. My advised to parents is that, don’t lose hope. Please, take your children for screening,” she added.
