Abbie�s operation successful

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday March 19, 2015 20:22

 

Abbie was diagnosed with Metastatic Immature Teratoma, a rare form of ovarian cancer in January 2014.

“On Monday March, 16 2016 our princess was taken to theatre for an eight hours heart bypass surgery by the team lead by Prof Derek Manas (liver transplant surgeon) Dr Asif Hasan (heart and lung transplant surgeon) Dr Simon Haynes (Anaesthetist) (and) Dr Janet Hale (consultant Head of Teratoma in Europe). Abbie was safely put to sleep at 13:05 pm.

Doctors delivered the greatest news of a lifetime at 20:38pm. The operation was successfully carried out and all the tumours have been removed with no damage to major organs,” she stated.

She said Abbie would remain sedated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on ventilation until doctors were satisfied that she was better. Ntshabele added that her daughter was highly monitored by the team and she was stable.

Furthermore, she stated that Abbie was moved from the teenage cancer unit ward to ICU on March 09, 2015 in Royal Victoria infirmary (Newcastle) where she was put on ventilation machine to help with her breathing a week prior to the operation. She added that they would be moved back to Royal Victoria infirmary hospital ICU for further stabilisation and continued medical care and treatment including mobility.

Abbie, who was initially supposed to go to China for the specialised operation, could not be flown there as her condition worsened.

Last month, on medical specialists advice, the family drove her from the United Kingdom, where she had been since last year, to Belgium. 

“Looking at the complexity of an operation of this nature and magnitude… there are a lot of ongoing discussions and different suggestions with different teams including the head of Teratoma in Europe.

“For that reason, we have in the process had to change plans along the way to keep up with and adjust to Abbie’s condition, lately because Abbie couldn’t fly to China. As an alternative to flying, we went to Belgium for assessment,” Ntshabele stated then.

Abbie’s operation became possible after an international funding appeal, in which Botswana’s musical export to the UK, Lorraine Lionheart joined forces with the Ntshabele family with the intention to raise P500,000.

The heart-rending appeal, in the UK and in Botswana, raised more than a P1million within a month, an extra-ordinary feat that led to many, especially on social media, expressing hope that it would be a sign of a successful operation for the young Mochudi girl.