The Boy Who Carries His Lifeline In A Bag

A boy carries a 5kg sling bag over his shoulder everywhere he goes. Unknown to many, his life depends on this plain-looking bag, which offers him a lifeline. Inside the bag, lies the battery required to keep his artificial heart pumping.

Meet Jovan, who aspires to be a soccer player. Once jovial and active, Jovan has to put his dreams at the backseat due to his heart condition. At the tender age of 14 years old, Jovan became the youngest person in Singapore to be fitted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)*,  a mechanical heart that pumps blood to the rest of his body. He suffers from cardiomyopathy, a disease of a weakened heart muscle that affects the heart from pumping blood to the rest of the body. His condition is genetic and runs in his family, affecting his grandmother, father and younger sister—the latter two of whom had since passed on at the age of 34 and 2 respectively. 

 
Jovan (far right) with his family, before he lost both his father and sister to Cardiomyopathy. 

Every day, Jovan, with some help from his mother, cleans the site where the driveline, a sterile tube leading from the external LVAD battery through the skin of his abdomen and up to his heart, lies. To help Jovan focus on his recovery to good health, the NHCS Heart To Heart Fund supported his purchase of an International Normalised Ratio (INR) blood test device, which is crucial for patients with LVAD and on warfarin to be able to do home monitoring.

Jovan and his mother, Cindy, listening intently as Dr David Sim guided them on how to maintain the mechanical heart device. 

"We are blessed to have received assistance from the NHCS Heart To Heart Fund, which has helped to ease the financial burden in paying for Jovan's treatment. With the INR device, we can reduce the number of trips to the hospital, and concentrate on his recovery," shared Cindy, Jovan's mother and the sole breadwinner of the family.

Since his LVAD procedure in 2022, Jovan has gradually regained his health and returned to school. While Jovan is unable to participate in physical activities at the moment, he remains positive about his dream. "I still want to become a goalkeeper," asserted Jovan, who took up soccer as his co-curricular activity in school. This sport holds memories for Jovan as he used to play soccer with his father regularly before his father's passing a few years ago.

While his daily life routine seems to have regained normalcy, Jovan maintained a stoic expression on his face whenever his beloved father and younger sister were mentioned, shaking his head in denial to revisit his fond memories of them. The 5kg sling bag, simple and unfanciful to many, holds heavy for a young teenager. Although the road ahead is long for Jovan, his courage to face his heart condition and aspiration in life is an inspiration to us.

By making a gift as little as $2 a month to the NHCS Heart To Heart Fund, you too can make a difference to the lives of heart patients such as Jovan, who are unable to undergo conventional therapy and require novel treatment that comes at a hefty price.

A small gift from you, a huge impact on our patients, month by month.

Become a donor today and make a difference here!

For more information, contact the NHCS Development Team at development@nhcs.com.sg.

*HeartMate3