Lagos 2015 baby of the year survives heart surgery, set for final operation

Oluwajomiloju Goodness Ogundimu, the 2015 baby of the year in Lagos state, has undergone a successful heart surgery in India.

Ogundimu was diagnosed with a heart defect at birth shortly after her mother Sherifat, a chartered accountant, died four minutes after her delivery.

Afolake Ogunnoiki, her grandmother, on Tuesday effusively thanked Akinwumi Ambode, Lagos state governor, for sending the child to India for the second time to undergo the surgery.

“We were in India, where we were referred to for an operation. Before we could not go for the second operation, the child (Oluwajomiloju) was not doing well like in the past. If she eats, she would vomit. I spent all I had on various medical tests.

“I discovered that she was not growing and developing normally. After one year, I was praying fervently to God not to allow our father, Governor Ambode forget us. Then I got a call that we were going to India for an operation, it was like I won a lottery because I had nobody except God.

“In India, we were supposed to spend only three (3) days, we discovered that the child had developed tissue again, which is another hole in the heart. I became so perplexed because I don’t know anybody in India, but I was assured by the doctors there.

“But I am amazed and full of thanks because as the Governor was called, he gave his approval within 24 hours for the operation to be undertaken. We were there for eight days.

“I am just a child of an ordinary farmer. I am not a politician, I don’t know both Governor Ambode and his wife personally. I have never met them personally; I have only seen them in photographs on papers and television screens.”

Ogunnoiki added that Oluwajomiloju will be due for another surgery in August next year saying that the doctors have assured that it would be the last operation to finally correct the heart defect.

“I am appealing to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode because that would be the third and final operation. I saw others who also came and had theirs.

“The child was named Oluwajomiloju from when she was six months old in the womb by her late mother. She is Governor Ambode and Mrs. Ambode’s daughter, God only said I should be the one to nurse her for them.”