Lukfuin story
Lukfuin’s story has been a model of strength and resistance for our Foundation, and taught us that we can never give up, even in the most desperate situation. Since she was born, Lukfuin has suffered from a severe cardiopathy, which leaves her a slim chance of making it to adulthood. Only a cardiac surgery can save her, but this type of treatment cannot be carried out anywhere in Camerun, due to the lack of specialised hospitals. However, San Donato General Hospital in Milan, Italy, has accepted to take charge of her case, and she now needs to fly to Italy to seize her only opportunity to live.
The departure
Associazione Cuore Fratello shares Lukfuin’s story with Flying Angels, and the Foundation immediately starts to looks for a lifesaving flight for the girl, who travels with three other ill children and two nuns. After a long flight from Douala to Milan, the girl is immediately admitted to the General Hospital, as she is in critical and unstable condition.
Surgery
Unfortunately, Lukfuin rapidly deteriorates before she can access her treatment, and the medical team is forced to call off her surgery. The risk is just too high.
The medical team decides that the girl needs to go home without receiving her treatment, but flying back to Camerun is also no longer an option: Lukfuin needs constant oxygen support, and her condition is too severe to endure a flight.
As she deteriorates even more, the situation seems hopeless, and it is decided that Lukfuin’s mom will be flown to Milan as quickly as possible, so that she can say goodbye to her little girl before it is too late.
However, despite her desperate condition, Lukfuin never gives up.
For three months, her mom, the medical team and the nurses of the San Donato General Hospital are by her side, while she fights for her life in the ICU. Her heart manages to overcome the ordeal, and Lukfuin unexpectedly gets better. To everyone’s surprise, she is declared fit for surgery again. Her mom knows that this will be a high-risk surgery, and that there is a high chance that she will lose her daughter, but she would do anything to try and save her, and she gives her consent to the procedure.
On February 4th, the surgical team carries out a long surgery on Lukfuin’s heart, in an attempt to save her. After the procedure, the young girl faces long difficult days in intensive care, and at that point it is still unclear if she will live. Her mom is by her side all along, to give her daughter all the love and strength she needs in such a difficult moment.
Back home
After her critical post-surgery days, Lukfuin is finally out of danger. Her recovery will be long, but she faces it with perseverance and determination, and very soon Flying Angels will fly her back home to the rest of her family.
