Liver wait too long for baby
2009-01-08 08:42
Port Elizabeth - The wait for a liver transplant became too long for little Chuma Mlahleki.
The seven-month-old girl died on Tuesday, after she and her mother, Lungiswa Mlahleki, had to live from hospital visit to hospital visit for seven months.
At birth it was found that her gall bladder wasn't functioning, and doctors at Dora Nginza Hospital also established after several operations that her liver was infected.
She was put on an emergency waiting list for a liver transplant at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town.
On January 20 she and her mother would have travelled to Cape Town for preliminary tests, but the wait just became too long for Chuma.
On Tuesday she started to struggle to breathe.
Died in her mother's arms
"She died in my arms on the way to the hospital," said a broken Mlahleki on Wednesday.
Die Burger carried a report on Chuma's struggle last month. She and her mother were two of the 260 people who got assistance from the Vistarus Care Centre.
On Wednesday Mlahleki once again visited the centre - this time not to get a plate of food, but to make arrangements for the funeral.
"I'm trying to stay strong, because I have to prepare for the funeral. But I'm hurting so much, I don't know how I will continue with my life," she said.