For immediate use Wednesday, May 13, 2009
18-year-old from
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- For the last three years, the
Now the team is turning the tables and bringing an 18-year-old young man from
Patrick Kahuma suffers from an extremely narrow pulmonary valve in the heart, a condition called pulmonary valve stenosis. He also has an atrial septal defect (ASD), a congenital hole in the heart. UNC’s Elman Frantz, M.D., will repair Patrick’s pulmonary valve by placing a balloon catheter inside it and using the balloon to expand it. The UNC medical team also plans to repair Patrick’s ASD with a catheter-delivered closure device while he’s at UNC. If that is not possible, then they will repair it surgically when the team returns to
“When a child is born in the
“In Patrick’s case, it’s remarkable that he has survived to the age of 18 without treatment. But if he doesn’t get treatment now, he faces an inevitable sudden death at some point in the future from one of three causes: heart arrhythmia, stroke or an infection in the heart called endocarditis,” Kocis said.
The plan to bring Patrick to Chapel Hill began to take shape when Dirk Hamp, M.D., a pediatrician in
The two men bonded over the fact that both were doing medical mission work in
"I met my friend Patrick two years ago when I was in
“I spent another month with Patrick last June when I took a team of 45 people to Patrick's village to serve the people there. And after a long two-year journey an incredible group of organizations has come together and I am so grateful to have Patrick in my home knowing he will get this life-saving surgery.”
Many different people and several organizations are playing a role in making Patrick’s trip to UNC possible. Samaritan’s Purse arranged for Patrick to be evaluated in
Hamp and his wife, Paige – who have an adopted 10-year-old daughter from Uganda – agreed to host Patrick in their Wake Forest home during his stay in North Carolina.
The procedure is not without risk, Kocis said. Because of Patrick’s narrow pulmonary valve, the right side of his heart has had to work extra hard to pump blood through the valve. That in turn has caused his right side heart muscle to grow enlarged and become extremely stiff. For those reasons, it’s possible that the medical team will not be able to safely place a balloon catheter through the valve to relieve the obstruction. In addition, there is a risk that Patrick’s heart could stop during the procedure.
The medical team first went to
Related links:
UNC Project-Uganda site: http://globalhealth.unc.edu/unc-project-uganda.php
UNC Project-Uganda blog: http://uncugandateam.blogspot.com/
Samaritan’s Purse Children's Heart Project site: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/chp/
Embrace Uganda site: http://www.embraceuganda.org/
Gift of Life Our Hearts are in Uganda site: http://www.giftoflifeinternational.org/pages/uganda.php
UNC media contacts: Tom Hughes, (919) 966-6047, tahughes@unch.unc.edu or Lisa Chensvold, (919) 843-5719, lisa_chensvold@unc.edu.