Deborah’s Story

“I woke up and everything was different.” 

This is how Deborah describes the moment she emerged from a life-saving cardiac surgery at Duchess International Hospital; a surgery that gave her a second chance at life and allowed her to fully embrace motherhood.

Six months after giving birth to her first child, Deborah was plunged into a medical crisis. She went into immediate heart failure and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for two crucial weeks. Investigations revealed the extent of the damage: two heart valves were leaking badly, a devastating, delayed consequence of rheumatic fever she had suffered in childhood.

The Complex Road to Surgery

Deborah was advised she needed surgery to replace the damaged valves. However, her heart was too weak to undergo the procedure immediately. After months of maximal medical therapy, she improved just enough to be offered surgery at Duchess Hospital.

The preparatory stage was intense. To make the surgery safer, she was admitted two days early to stabilize her fluid levels. The results were dramatic: 10L of fluid was removed, and she lost 18kg in weight before ever setting foot in the operating theater.

On the day of the procedure, she underwent a complex surgery to replace the aortic valve and repair the mitral valve. Her heart was further supported by an assist device, an intra-aortic balloon pump.

The Duchess Difference: Compassion and Expertise

Deborah’s testimony is a powerful reflection of the Duchess commitment to personalized care:

“It was good to have people around that would make you not even think that you’re about to go through something that you’re not prepared for… I met with the team, everybody introduced themselves and assured me that I was in good hands. That fear left.“

The warmth of the Duchess team was just as vital as the clinical expertise:

“The nurses I met, they were nice. All of them, they were all nice. Everybody is smiling and saying, ‘How are you?’… They made sure that I was comfortable and that was what was really important to me.”

A Remarkable Recovery

Following the successful surgery, Deborah’s progress was astonishingly fast. By the third day after surgery, she was already sitting out of bed, walking around the ICU, and had been weaned off all support. She was transferred to the ward and was fit for discharge home by the eighth day.

Deborah has now been restored to normal health. The swollen belly, swollen legs, and the debilitating tiredness are all gone.

Her story is a testament to the life-saving results achieved when compassionate care meets world-class expertise. 

Duchess International Hospital is proud to have been the right team, at the right time, to give Deborah a second chance at life and motherhood.