A Zimbabwean teenager whose life was saved as a baby by one of the most complex pediatric heart surgeries ever performed in Israel has returned to the Jewish state—this time as a healthy 15-year-old—to thank the surgeon who saved his life and to undergo a routine pacemaker battery replacement.
Takudzwa Chitima was just 21 months old when he arrived in Israel in 2012, suffering from a rare and life-threatening congenital heart condition. Without advanced surgery, doctors warned, he was unlikely to survive.
The chain of events that brought him to Israel began thousands of kilometers away, in Zimbabwe, where his father, Chance, worked for an Israeli entrepreneur installing irrigation systems. When the Israeli employer, Eran Tal, learned of the infant’s condition, he and his family refused to accept that the child’s fate should be determined by money or geography.
After the family was quoted more than $20,000 for treatment at a private hospital in South Africa—an impossible sum—they helped connect them with Save A Child’s Heart, the Israeli-based organization that provides life-saving cardiac care to children from developing countries.
Takudzwa was brought to Israel and treated at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, where he underwent a technically demanding double-switch open-heart operation performed by Dr. Lior Sasson, director of pediatric cardiac surgery.
“I remember little Takudzwa was so tiny,” Sasson recalled. “When I reviewed his echocardiogram, I saw that he had one of the most complicated cardiac anomalies that exists. It’s called congenitally corrected transposition, where the ventricles are completely inverted. It’s a very complex condition.”
Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) is extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all congenital heart defects, with an estimated incidence of one in 30,000 to 50,000 live births. The surgery saved Takudzwa’s life but resulted in a complete heart blockage, requiring the implantation of a permanent pacemaker.
“It was a long procedure,” Sasson said. “He also had rhythm abnormalities. We implanted a pacemaker that lasted many years. Now he’s back only to replace the battery. Seeing his smile—and his mother’s—and hearing that he had a normal childhood means the world to me.”
Takudzwa’s mother, Faith, recalled how dire the situation had been before the operation. “He wouldn’t eat, he wasn’t growing, and he was underdeveloped. We were told he was at very high risk of dying,” she said. “But ever since the surgery, life for my boy has been perfect.”
Now 14 years later, Takudzwa returned to Israel as a healthy teenager. During his visit, he met Sasson face-to-face for the first time since the surgery.
“I really want to thank you,” Takudzwa told the surgeon. “Because of you, I am alive. I live my life as a grateful person because of you.”
The emotional reunion captured the long arc of pediatric cardiac care—and what can happen when compassion, medical excellence and human responsibility cross borders, Save A Child’s Heart said.
In the coming days, it said, Takudzwa will travel home to Zimbabwe—"a living testament to the impact of Israeli medicine and to the belief that a child’s life should never depend on financial means.”
