Aishwarya’s mom: As long as my daughter is healthy, it is enough for me.

Photos by Scott Streble

Revathi from the Indian city of Tirupur was worried and frightened when the youngest of her three children, 5-month-old Aishwarya, was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. She and her husband took their baby girl to a pediatrician because she was having trouble breathing and her heart was beating too fast.

 Aishwarya and her mother visiting her grandmother, who lives nearby.

The pediatrician referred her to GKNM Hospital, our partner hospital in Coimbatore. The day after diagnosing Aishwarya’s disease, Dr. Raju Vijayakumar performed heart surgery. Just 5 days later, Aishwarya was ready to go back home!

Siddharth (10) helps take care of her baby sister Aishwarya and her younger brother Akilesh (3).

One month later, she is on the road to full recovery. “In the beginning, it was difficult because Aishwarya cried a lot. But now she has calmed down and feels much better. Her wound is healing,” says Revathi, while holding her daughter. Aishwarya is happy being carried in her mother’s arms, which she got used to after her surgery. Revathi is happy watching her daughter crawl, learning to sit up and reaching new milestones.

Children’s HeartLink works in five countries: Brazil, China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. We focus on training in-country medical providers. The training is done in partnerships with top medical volunteer teams from the US, Canada and the UK. Last year alone, 4,000 medical providers were trained and went on to serve 171,000 children. In our 50 years, we have helped over one million children with heart disease. Read more about our work here.