11-week-old baby with heart problem dies

The 11-week-old baby, Shalom Omoike, with a heart problem, hoping to travel abroad for heart surgery, is dead.

His mother, Mrs Mercy Omoike, a journalist with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said on Wednesday that Shalom died on Sunday evening while waiting to travel for the surgery.

Omoike, while appreciating the gesture of kind-hearted Nigerians that donated toward the surgery, said such payments into the publicised bank and “Go Fund Me Account’’ should stop.

She thanked kindhearted Nigerians and corporate organisations that had donated toward the planned heart surgery for Shalom.

“We, however, regret to announce the death of the baby. The baby boy died on Jan. 10, after a brief illness,’’ she said.

Recall that Omoike had earlier sought the support of kind-hearted Nigerians to raise N7.5 million for surgery save of her baby born with a heart problem.

Omoike said the baby boy was born on Oct. 23, with a heart problem.

According to her, the financial support was needed for Shalom’s surgery, visa, and travel expens­es to India for the surgical intervention.

Mr Buki Ponle, the Managing Director of NAN had also on Jan. 8, launched a #SaveShalom Appeal Fund to save the baby.

NAN