Baby Aylah gets Angel help to mend her heart

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At only three months old, baby Aylah Botha has been hospitalised with Meningitis, COVID-19, and breathing difficulty, and, recently, her parents received the diagnosis that their baby has two life-threatening holes in her heart.

Baby Aylah Botha from Pretoria is three months old today. She is her mom Jua-Rike and dad JJ’s first little bundle of joy. Like most new parents, they counted the weeks to her birth with love and excitement.

Everything went so well, although she had some infant jaundice, which is very common in newborns, and then she got ill.

At three weeks of age, she was in hospital with Meningitis, COVID-19, and breathing difficulties.

She constantly struggles with her immune system and oxygen levels, and then her parents got the diagnosis that her heart had two holes, causing her little body to work harder to perform normal functions.

Initially, it was hoped that the holes would close, but now, they have become life-threatening and baby Aylah will have to undergo heart surgery within the next month, as soon as her weight picks up a little more than the four kilograms she currently weighs.

Mom Jua-Rike has been by her side all along and cannot return to work as a hairdresser. Dad JJ works to keep the family going and to afford their medical aid.

Even though they have medical cover, they have to pay 25% of the bill before she is operated on. With their medical aid already depleted and their co-payment projected to be over R100,000, friends and family have rallied around this young family and reached out to Good Morning Angels for assistance.
3 Apr 2024 English South Africa Non-Profit

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