A mother’s determination to save daughter pays off

MUM Rebecca Lam was relieved when daughter Letisha came out of a successful surgery to treat a congenital heart defect.
She thanked the help of the medical team of Operation Open Heart at the Port Moresby General Hospital to saving six-year-old Letisha.
A congenital heart defect, also known as a congenital heart anomaly or congenital heart disease, is a problem with the structure of the heart at birth.
Letisha was the second child who underwent Operation Open Heart which began at the hospital on Sunday. It ends on Feb 26.
Rebecca, an operating theatre nurse manager at Tari Hospital in Hela, said Letisha was diagnosed with congenital heart defect six months after she was born in 2012.
But doctors could not operate on her because she was small.
“I began to save little money for Letisha’s heart operation while working as a nurse with PomGen’s Accident and Emergency Department from 2005 to 2014,” Rebecca said.
“I continued saving when transferred to my home Tari and worked at Tari Hospital. I was able to save about K10,000 to cover airplane tickets for me, my daughter and the baby sitter, accommodation and food for a month while in Port Moresby for operation.”
She said Letisha was a fighter.
“I am glad that her operation is timely so she can continue her elementary prep,” Rebecca said.