Gabriel's Tumour Surgery

Hello,

My name is Lina and I am mother to three gorgeous boys.

In May 2021 I gave birth to our third boy, Gabriel, and our family was complete. The day was full of happiness and joy until we received the devastating news that our beautiful newborn baby had a large tumour in his heart (Left Ventricle Fibroma - only a handful of people have been diagnosed in the UK with this condition). This came as a complete surprise to us all, as nothing was detected throughout pregnancy. It was only when the nurses noticed that Gabriel was short of breath that they moved him to the intensive care unit and then on to Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.

From that moment our lives changed completely. I remember one of the doctors came in and told us it could be years, months, or even weeks…so we should make the most of our time together and take lots of pictures for memories. I cannot explain in words how I felt; my heart broke.

 

Gabriel has gone through numerous check-ups and is on medication. At 6 months old Gabriel developed life threatening tachycardia arrhythmia which was caused by bronchitis. He has ongoing respiratory infections due to the mass pressing on the airways of the lungs, but worse than that, his heart could stop at any moment. However, UK health care is very limited about fibromas due to it being so rare. 

One day Gabriel's consultant asked if it was okay to send Gabriel’s MRI images to Boston Children’s Hospital. This gave me hope that there was something more that could be done. From that day I started carrying out research online and I have since found that the surgery which could be performed at that hospital is his best chance for a long and full life.

Boston Children's Hospital has quoted us £140K for “debulking or re-sectioning of the ventricular fibroma”. The cardiac surgeons in Boston have done this operation several times and are confident that they can drastically improve or even cure our little angel, Gabriel. 

Thank you so much for reading this far. As his parents, Rafael and I hope that you will be able to share this fundraising page, share Gabriel’s story and if possible, make a donation. As a family we are not able to raise this money on our own but any donation will allow us to be one step closer.

Lina