The boy who left home to save his heart

When Mesfin Dollar started to get sick as a child, he had no idea his illness would set his life on a completely different course. Growing up in a rural village in southern Ethiopia, he loved the nature and sense of community that surrounded him. Around the age of 10, he started to develop a cough and would often experience shortness of breath. Over time, these unexplained symptoms worsened to the point that his ill health was completely debilitating. Still a child, Mesfin made a dramatic choice – to leave his village alone and without telling his family where he was going. He made his way to the capital city, Addis Ababa, where he met a man he refers to as ‘my angel’. An American doctor, Rick Hodes, diagnosed Mesfin with rheumatic heart disease, for which he would need complex open-heart surgery that was unavailable in Ethiopia at the time. Dr Hodes arranged for Mesfin to travel to the United States for two major operations which led to Mesfin making a full recovery. Mesfin went on to study in the US to be a perfusionist, and now conducts operations back in Ethiopia, alongside the very heart surgeon who operated on him years before.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Rob Wilson

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(Photo: Mesfin Dollar stands in his home village of Shafina, Southern Ethiopia, during one of his trips back to the country to work as a perfusionist during open-heart surgery. He's surrounded by tall trees and lush greenery. Credit: Mesfin Dollar)