The heartbreaking story of baby Ivannah Alusa Limo

Baby Ivannah Alusa Limo or Ivy was born healthy on 28th December, 2014.

She had been growing normally until at the age of three (3) months, when, with no previous hospital admission, she was taken ill and admitted at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital on the 5th April, 2015 with continuous vomiting episodes (projectile, bilious), associated with abdominal distention. She was admitted at ICU on the same day.

The diagnosis was as follows:
1.Intestinal failure (entire small gut resection following necrosis secondary to volvulus/malrotation). Her entire small intestine was dead.
2.Hypertension
3.Cardiac left ventricular hypertrophy.

Medical Interventions To-Date

Ivannah has had three surgeries to remove her entire small intestine in order to stop infection of vital organs in her abdomen. As a result of the removal of her small intestines, Ivannah cannot be fed by mouth. She has to be fed intravenously through Total Parental Nutrition (TPN). TPN has its inherent risks such as making Ivannah prone to infections and the possibility of her liver shutting down. Ivannah requires intestinal rehabilitation and if that fails, she will require an intestinal transplant. She is presently at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital where she is being stabilized so as to proceed with further treatment overseas.

Medical Intervention Required

Baby Ivannah is currently receiving the best medical care at the Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital in Nairobi, where the primary objective is to stabilize her and prepare her for treatment at a more advanced facility overseas. Further to this her doctors here in Kenya, and a pool of experts from various facilities in different parts of the world have recommended that Ivannah would need intestinal rehabilitation surgery and possibly afterwards a transplant.

An intestinal transplant is a last-resort treatment option for patients with intestinal failure who develop life-threatening complications from total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Long-term TPN can result in complications including bone disorders, catheter-related infections and liver failure. Over an extended period of time, TPN can also damage veins used to administer the nutrition via the catheter.

An Intestinal transplant is a complex procedure requiring a highly skilled multidisciplinary transplant team. An isolated Intestinal transplant surgery takes approximately three to four hours to complete whereas a multivisceral (multi-organ) transplant operation can take up to twelve hours.

Why Intestinal Transplant is Important

Ivannah currently can only be fed through Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). Patients with intestinal failure may receive all or most of their nutrients and calories intravenously through TPN. TPN is given through a catheter placed in the arm, groin, neck or chest. Patients on TPN may live for many years, but long-term use of TPN can result in serious complications, such as bone disorders, central venous catheter infections and liver disease. If those complications become life-threatening, an intestinal transplant is required. Considering her tender age, Ivannah is more at risk from these life threatening complications as opposed to an average adult patient.

It is imperative that she gets this transplant at the earliest opportunity.

Cost of Treatment

Due to the delicate and highly specialized nature of the treatment that Ivannah is getting, the cost of care is very high. At the Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, the cost is coming to a ballpark figure of an average of Kshs. 0.8 Million EVERY WEEK. In the 11 weeks that Ivannah has been hospitalized, the bill has already accumulated to Kshs. 8 Million.

The medical team attending to her case in the United States of America have sent various cost projections for medical care which depend on her condition post travelling from Kenya to the US, how she reacts to treatment, her convalesce lead time amongst other considerations. All estimates however range from USD 700,000 to USD 2 Million.

We have therefore set a target of USD 1 Million to enable the hospital to hospital transfer commence and pre-surgery care at an overseas facility.

Sources of Funds

The friends of the family as well as well – wishers have been able to set up a committee that has been steering the raising of funds to meet the cost of Medicare to Ivannah. The following is the current state of affairs:

Insurance: Baby Ivannah has a medical insurance cover through UAP Insurance who have provided an undertaking of Kshs. 2.3 Million.

Fundraising: Through a Trust Fund set up at the Equity Bank of Kenya and through M-Pesa, we have been able to raise Kes. 1.2 Million.

Fundraising Appeal
It is in this regard that we are launching the Baby Ivannah Medical Appeal to raise the USD 1 Million required to meet the cost of giving her a shot at overcoming this condition she finds herself in. We have initiated a few actions to help achieve the said target:

The Ivannah Trust Fund
We are currently in the process of registering a Trust to supervise the collection of funds for the medical care as well as provide oversight on the utilization of the same. We have identified a pool of 7 Trustees amongst them public figures of repute, to take on this responsibility.

Steering Committee
We have also established a committee of 20 able men and women to manage all the efforts to mobilize resources for this initiative.

Public Appeal
We have initiated a number of public appeals and mostly using the ubiquitous nature of the social media to reach to as many well-wishers as possible. We are highlighting the issue through Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and have launched the official website http://www.helpivannah.com

It is with all the aforementioned that we would like to invite you and your organization to help Ivannah get this transplant and live to make a contribution to this great nation.

We appeal for any financial or material support to lift this burden

Details on how to help baby Ivannah Alusa Limo