Some of my friends and I at the university had decided to intervene. He needed urgent surgery to repair his heart. But the hospital he was in could not do much, because of the limited resources and lack of specialized workmanship and funds to perform such intricate surgeries. There was, and still is, a hospital, at the heart of Nairobi, that deals with free corrective heart surgeries for such children, and since I was the one living in that city,  I had the task of communicating with them and ask how they could help. But that Monday morning as I prepped to head to the hospital, I was called and told that Kelvin had passed away. My world came to a stand still. I remember it like yesterday. My eyes and heart could not sob enough. Just at the edge of a breakthrough?

It has been six years now, since Kevin Mutembei settled with the angels, but it seems like yesterday to me. He would have been ten years now, were it not for disease and poverty denying him of his childhood.

The chart below shows an estimate of how much the heart surgeries would cost together with the diagnostic tests, and it's most evident that they are unaffordable by majority of our households.

The burden of the congenital heart diseases is so huge that most children suffering from these conditions end up dying due to congestive heart failure, while these deaths could be prevented with some prompt surgical procedures.

Some of the Kenyan hospitals like The Mater hospital, Karen hospital, are doing a great job in campaigning for people to contribute money towards free heart surgeries to children below 18 years, annually, and that is done through a run dubbed, "the heart run."  People contribute through buying caps, t-shirts, etc and the funding goes to support these kids through a heart surgery. I am hopeful that more of these campaigns will be seen across Africa, and anywhere else where the condition is rampant.

Whenever we are capable,  let's contribute, in cash and in kind by running for these kids. Let's save the future generation. See them as your younger sibling, your grandchild, your child or your neighbors kid and don't allow their parents' financial status to threaten the right of these kids to grow up like other kids and the right of their parents to be proud progenitors. Walk, run, make a heart beat, one more time!  These little things matter for these little ones.