You have seen a candle silently melting, exuding light, but steadily eaten away by the fire it helps burn. Iyamuremye Jean Paul’s life, from childhood, was filled with a vacant tempest of fear. He was melting towards death. The ticking of the clock came with a corrosive anxiety of hopelessness, trudging bit-by-bit towards the grave, for his health complication was putting him at the verge of death all the time. He was suffering from cardiovascular complications.
You have seen a candle silently melting, exuding light, but steadily eaten away by the fire it helps burn. Iyamuremye Jean Paul’s life, from childhood, was filled with a vacant tempest of fear. He was melting towards death.
The ticking of the clock came with a corrosive anxiety of hopelessness, trudging bit-by-bit towards the grave, for his health complication was putting him at the verge of death all the time. He was suffering from cardiovascular complications.
"Life without hope was my nightmare after discovering that I had a heart complication. Whenever I thought about my life, with a future so bleak and gloomy, agony hovered all about me, regretting why I was not like others. I had no hope of how I could get out of that quagmire of sorrow,” Iyamuremye narrates with a trace of sorrow.
"I had a good job but could not foot bills, even with the help from workmates and the office. They tried to help me by paying some medical bills till the contract came to an end and started using the little that I had saved,” he says
Iyamuremye, 33, got married to Jackline Nyiramana in September 2006. Enjoying their new life as a new couple was short-lived. Just after six months Iyamuremye’s life started deteriorating.
"I remember one day my wife asked me if I didn’t offend my God for which I may be facing the consequences. She was somehow worried of my deterioration health situation”
"It was a trying moment to me and my family. I could no longer perform all my duties as a man; I had to wait for good Samaritans to help me. I had to be fed as a baby…..I had to wait for whomever God would direct to me for help, I was a hopeless man.
Living a life of uncertainty contributed further to my ailment. My wife used to pay all her salary she earned from a constructing company for the rent of the house. All her earnings paid for rent.
"In that state of affairs, different people gave different forms of advice.
Others attributed it to the woman that I had married. Still battling my sickness going here and there for treatment, using different medicines as directed by the physicians couldn’t help but only worsening my situation.
But in that process I came across Dr Kagame in 2007, who was able to discover my sickness. He wasn’t capable of helping me but directed me to King Faisal Hospital (KFH) for better treatment.
"After some tests were carried out, it was discovered that some of my valves had some holes within them and even some parts of my heart were in worse conditions and I had to take several anti-biotic and pain killers before the operation could be carried out,” Iyamuremye recalls.
On April 06 2008, a group of Surgeons from Boston and Washington carried out cardiovascular operation at KFH and Iyamuremye was among the patients to be operated upon.
"It was not easy. Even if I was sick but it sounded strange to me on how it would be carried out since it was an open heart operation. We were approaching the genocide commemoration time so I thought that may be I could go into a coma.
"On the exact day of the operation, I had a stream of thoughts that came into my mind but mostly I never thought about how I see my life again after the operation.
There was a lady that I met at the hospital who had tested on the cup that I was about to test. She had been operated on in the UK. She encouraged and gave me comfort.
After a successful operation Iyamuremye was given an artificial valve that will be helping him the rest of his lifetime alongside a daily dosage of tablets.
Touring different departments at KFH, I meet Dr Nathan J. Ruhamya, a Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, in charge of Preventative Treatment and follow up of the of the patients. He is among the team members that carry out the cardiac surgery.
A jovial and immensely likeable Ruhamya whom I find at the King Faysal Hospital, sharing jokes with one of the patients, gives an account of the operation.
"Many of these diseases that are connected to the cause of the cardiovascular diseases can be prevented. For the inherited diseases, when they are treated at the early stage, people would live longer than the ones who never went for the treatment.
The advice we give them is to stop smoking, eat a well balanced diet, doing some sports at least to exercise for thirty minutes every day and go for the check-up periodically,” says Dr Ruhamya.
He then pulls out a file that carries some statistics of the successful operations they have carried out since 2006 that number to 221 people, including 176 children, 61 adults and 45 trans-cut interventions for children.
The operation does not only save people’s lives but also saving huge sums of money that would have been spent on foreign-based surgeries. Ever since they started carrying out cardiovascular operations, they have been able to save more than $2.5 million.
The cardiologist noted that these are expensive surgeries that the team has offered to perform for free citing that the visiting group is paying for their own air tickets while government covers their local costs and accommodation.
As I turn around, on my extreme right Iyamuremye is counseling and asking the recent operated patients about their health. I come closer to them as I earnestly get to know what they are going through.
Jean Damascene Ibambasi, a happy man after the operation in uncontrolled joy runs out of words to tell the story. "God bless President Paul Kagame because of the good relationship with other countries because even before 1994 the Ministry of foreign affairs was there but poor people like me would eventually die of heart complications. God bless KFH with all the partners and every individual who has helped me,” Ibambasi prayed.
But when you hear the word "cardiac surgery” what comes to your mind? Dr. Didace B. Mugisa a Cardiothoracic Surgeon gives the outlook.
"According to the feedback that we get after treating the patients in different processes, the group comes out with different solutions; to people whose health conditions are not shocking they can be treated as any other patients and they go back to their homes but in cases where the health condition is ghastly, heavy decisions are expected,” notes Dr Mugisa.
There are two types of valves each costing $2500 that they can give patients either the tissue or metal valve. When using the tissue valve almost everything is normal but when you are given he metal valve, everything that you are doing you need to think twice, says Dr Mugisa.
Medical officials say that such services would have cost about $20,000 each, abroad, hence commending the visiting teams that include surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists and experts in the Intensive Care Unit who voluntarily carry out the operations.
The hardest effect when using the metal valve is that ladies can never conceive since in the time being her valve will need to supply blood to two people and if it comes to the time of birth, she might fail to push the baby due to high blood pressure. When the valve has been damaged it will be hard for a man to carry on his duties as a man.
Iyamuremye comes back to me after visiting all the patients that underwent cardiac surgery. Patients take him as a role model, whom he helps with counseling.
"I don’t consider myself a patient anymore because when am with others they can’t know that am different from them.
If I wasn’t married to a caring wife, I would even date a lady without her knowing what am carrying in my chest,” Iyamuremye said as he ushered other patients into a bout of laughter.
"I am a special person! Am made out of metals,” he jokes as he unbuttons to show a scar unto his chest. He draws me closer to his heart, to make me listen to the heartbeats.
"We are relieved and not aggrieved. The heart disease had put us on the withering road to the grave yard, but KFH has restored our lives and hope,” a joyful Iyamuremeye says.
"Just a few months after I was discharged, I was able to buy a car that I use as a taxi cub and am planning to start a tourist agency by buying other wagons,” a hopeful Iyamuremye enthuses.
Today Iyamuremye is able to conduct his job of special taxi driving but with the condition of using a car that bears an airbag. He goes for simple exercises to keep fit and healthy. His life has completely changed!
The National Cardiac Surgery Program started in April 2006 in partnership with the Ministry of Health and four visiting surgical teams that include; "Team Heart Inc.” from Boston USA, "Healing Hearts Northwest” from Washington, USA, "Operation Open Heart” from Sydney, Australia and "Chain of Hope”, from Brussels, Belgium.
This international partnership was built with the aim of developing an autonomous Cardiac Centre of Excellence for children and adults, and offering new opportunities and access to highly specialized cardiac care to Rwandans every year. It will also respond to the local and regional heart surgery needs.