Patience Persists
Meet Patience! Patience is two years old and lives with her mother in Gulu in the Northern Region of Uganda.
Since Patience was two months old, she showed signs of being ill. She was always crying and getting sick with a high temperature. Patience’s health concerns were challenging. Cathrine, her mother, also had four other children to care for.
Finally, when Patience was one year and five months old, her mother took her to a hospital in Gulu. There, Dr. Latim diagnosed Patience with her heart defects. Patience struggled with a complete heart block and a ventricular septal defect (VSD). A VSD is a hole between the two lower chambers of the heart. Due to the heart block, Patience’s upper and lower parts of the heart beat independently from each other. Both of these conditions are what caused Patience to have shortness of breath, dizziness, and weakness. Dr. Latim referred Patience and her mother to Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) in Kampala, Uganda.
Kampala is about four hours from the Gala District by car. Cathrine did not have transportation available to get her and Patience there. Dr. Latim helped Cathrine and Patience secure transportation. When the two arrived to Kampala, they were able to be seen by the doctors at Uganda Heart Institute, as well as the visiting team there at the time from Gift of Life International.
Though our program in Uganda has graduated to Legacy status, Gift of Life International still visits once a year to track the progress of our wonderful team at UHI.
In November of 2025, Patience was able to receive heart healing care from the local team at UHI, and the visiting Gift of Life International team. Patience received her surgery on November 17th, and has been doing great ever since! She is now able to live, play, and dream like any other child without being discomforted by the symptoms of her heart defects. “I can’t wait to see my child well and strong, and be able to play with her brothers and sisters,” says Cathrine. “Thank you so much to all of the doctors and Gift of Life.”
To learn more about our program in Uganda, click here.
Social Media Consultant for Gift of Life International
