With 2.3 Million Shillings (USD 645), You Will Help Everlyn Apio Undergo Heart Surgery

27 August 2025, 3:14 pm

By Emmy Daniel Ojara

From Gulu Regional Referral Hospital to St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor, and now at Mulago National Referral Hospital, 39-year-old Ms Everlyn Apio is seeking 2.3 million shillings (approximately USD 645) for a heart surgery.

Last year, Ms Apio developed strange signs in her body; little did she know that it was a condition related to her unhealthy heart.

After seeking medical attention in different hospitals in Gulu City, Ms Apio was then diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease, a condition that requires heart surgery.

Since February last year, Ms Apio`s condition has been worsening. She underwent a minor palliative surgery at Mulago Regional Referral Hospital to alleviate her pain, but all is not well.

Owing to her condition, medics have recommended limited movement, as she solicits funds to support her only hope, which is a heart surgery.

With breathing difficulties, Ms Apio is being supported through a catheter tube that was inserted through her nose to ease her breathing. Sometimes she faints and is unable to fend for herself.

All that is required to restore her full health is a medical procedure worth eleven million eight hundred thousand shillings (11,800,000 shs), approximately 3,300 USD, which she does not have.

Ms Apio comes from a peasant family, but with the support of well-wishers, she has been able to raise nine million and five hundred thousand shillings (9,5,00,000shs), approximately 2,660USD.

She is left with two million three hundred thousand shillings (645USD) to secure her full health.

“I couldn’t undergo surgery right away,” she says. “I am still looking for money”. My phone number is: 0 (+256) 772000196 registered in her name, Everlyn Letricia Apio.

Abandoned by the father of her two children, Ms Apio a resident of Badege-Layibi in Gulu City is a dealer in second-hand clothes; she has two kids, but is now unable to continue with her business and provide for her children due to her ailing health condition.

Being a single mother, Ms Apio`s uncle has been looking after her kids.

By Monday 25^th of August this year, Ms Apio`s condition had deteriorated, and medics had reminded him of the urgent need for heart surgery.

For financial support, Apio can be reached on her direct phone number 0772000196 registered in her name, Everline Letricia Apio.

Dr Desmond Drale, a medical doctor and lecturer at Gulu University, says patients with rheumatic heart disease present signs and symptoms such as: fever, painful joints (knees, elbows and wrists) and heart murmur.

Patients also get fatigue, chest pains, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat and swelling of the stomach, hands and feet.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), rheumatic heart disease is a serious disease that results from damage to heart valves caused by one or several episodes of rheumatic fever— an autoimmune inflammatory reaction to throat infection caused by group A streptococcus (streptococcal pharyngitis or strep throat).

The disease, which affects an estimated 55 million people worldwide, claims 360,000 lives each year, mostly in low-income nations.

This is an advocacy story seeking support for Ms Everlyn Letricia Apiyo.  She can be reached on her direct phone number 0772000196 registered in her name, Everlyn Letricia Apio.