Philippine teen flies to Sudan for heart surgery amid fear, gratitude

Khartoum where Reynaldo Nilo is headed hosts a hospital run by EMERGENCY, an Italian charity that is renowned for its state-of-the art cardiac surgery provided for free, usually to people from Africa.

Reynaldo Nilo has been cared for by his sister Sarah Joy ever since he dropped out of high school because of illness. Jay Directo / AFP

MANILA // A cocktail of fear, hope and gratitude bubbled inside Reynaldo Nilo’s feeble heart as the Philippine teenager prepared to take his first-ever plane ride for a journey to Sudan aimed at saving his life.

Nilo, who suffers from rheumatic heart disease and is the son of impoverished farmers, boarded a flight on Monday for Khartoum, the capital of the east African country. He was going to Sudan for open heart surgery, without which he would likely die within a few years.

The city hosts a hospital run by EMERGENCY, an Italian charity that is renowned for its state-of-the art cardiac surgery provided for free, usually to people from Africa.

“I am extremely grateful to them for giving me the chance to have a longer life,” the 17-year-old said hours before he and his elder sister, Sarah Joy, boarded the plane to Khartoum – a first for both of them.

Sarah Joy only found out about the Italian charity after chancing upon an Oscar-nominated documentary about the Khartoum hospital.

Nilo said he knew little about Africa other than disease and conflict.

“I’m scared because I heard they have Ebola there. I’m also concerned about the wars there,” said Nilo.

“But if the Lord wills it, I should be okay and able to recover.”

Nilo had strep throat as a child and, because he did not take antibiotics at the time, it led to rheumatic heart disease.

Without open heart surgery, most sufferers of the disease die by the time they are 20, according to EMERGENCY.

The surgery in the Philippines would cost tens of thousands of dollars, an impossible amount for the son of duck farmers from the remote far north of the country.

Nilo was diagnosed with the disease when he was 15 after suffering from near-daily breathing problems that would leave him blue in the face.

The worst attacks would see his hands and feet seize up with muscle spasms.

Sarah Joy became his full-time carer when Nilo was forced to drop out of high school.

Unable to afford medical treatment, she scoured the internet for ways to relieve his discomfort.“I was scared he would succumb [to the disease], but I steeled myself, determined to show him that we were not giving up,” Sarah Joy said.

“I was desperate to get a job – any job, even as a domestic helper abroad – to pay for the surgery. But I realised it would take more than a lifetime to raise that amount.”

The family was growing increasingly desperate until Sarah Joy watched a documentary last year called “Open Heart” about EMERGENCY’s hospital in Khartoum.

The documentary, which was nominated for an Oscar, tells the story of eight Rwandan children with rheumatic heart disease who had the high-risk surgery at the hospital, the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery.

The centre is the only free hospital specialising in complex heart operations in Africa.

Nilo’s sister tracked down the US producer, who put her in touch with EMERGENCY.

The charity agreed to help.

After the surgery to replace or repair heart valves, Nilo will require medication for the rest of his life, which EMERGENCY has also agreed to pay for.

Turkish Airlines agreed to cover the cost of their flights, which alone would have cost years of income.

“We are just so happy that this foundation agreed to help us,” Nilo’s sister said.

“We were afraid we would lose him.”

* Agence France-Presse