Tears flowing from Francine Thompson, who is badly inneed of a heart surgery.

Tears flowed unabated as Francine Thompson tried to share her sad story with the Sunday Gleaner. Sitting shyly in the small office at Middlesex Medical Laboratory, May Pen, where her sister and caregiver works, she ponders her situation.

"I think I will die," she whispered.

Thompson, 29 years old, needs urgent heart surgery. She has congenital heart disease, and in addition, needs to have a leaking valve replaced.

Her older sister, Marcia Braham, who is a phlebotomist, has been her guardian since she was about nine years old. It was at about this age that Thompson was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and told that she would eventually have heart-related problems.

"Last year, she got a stroke. She could not talk and her entire right side was dead. She was admitted to Spauldings Hospital, and then transferred to Mandeville. She spent over one month in the hospital. Since then, she has been having shortness of breadth and getting weaker," said Braham.

Regaining composure

Regaining her composure, Thompson, a mother of two, said that after the birth of her first child, the doctors advised her not to have any more children.

"After my second child, who is is just one year and six months, my heart got worse; right now I can hardly do anything," she said.

"One of my co-workers suggested I take my sister to see Dr. William Foster in Kingston. He immediately did an ECG and echocardiogram which showed that my sister's heart was very bad, that the valves, both left and right were closing, and that the right one was leaking," Braham related. "He was shocked she had not seen a specialist before," Braham related.

The diagnosis has the two sisters in a tailspin. Having paid over $18,000 for the tests, Braham said they are out of money. On Dr. Foster's waiting list to get medical assistance abroad, they are optimistic.

"Dr. Foster has assured us that he is trying his best to find a facility that will do my sister's surgery for free. In the meantime, we are trying to get U.S. visas so we'll be ready as soon as he can finalise arrangements.

"We are buying time right now, because my sister's heart is swollen and it is only blood thinning medication that is keeping her alive," said Braham.