Two-year-old Raijieli Tiko has been given a new lease of life after undergoing successful heart surgery at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital in Suva on Tuesday.

Tiko’s emotional mother, Litiana Marama is overwhelmed to see her daughter healthy again.

Marama says in July her daughter’s health began deteriorating and she was later diagnosed with heart disease.

“She started coughing like from the end of July, which went up till August and went on and on. We just went to the hospital, got medicines, and then we came back. But the last day we went to the hospital, it was her review that was in Nausori hospital. Then they found it in the review and then they did an x-ray and everything and they found out that she had a problem.”

The 26-year-old says the previous two months have been very difficult.

Marama is advising parents to take their children’s health seriously and not be afraid to seek help.

The specialists from Singapore will be here for the next ten days and during this period they will be conducting around 24 surgeries.