Staying in Ethiopia was a death sentence for the pretty, thin 17-year-old girl with a heart defect.
Tigist Yemane was weak. She couldn’t walk more than a few steps without passing out.
Without an operation, doctors told her in 2004, she would be dead in six months.
In the United States, the operation to fix her mitral stenosis is relatively simple and involves an overnight hospital stay. In her native Ethiopia, the operation was out of her reach.
Yemane had becom...CHARLOTTE, NC (Charlotte Observer)
(more)
