Renesmé Foundation wants to give babies a fighting chance

The story of the Renesmé Foundation begins with the joyful life and premature death of Renesmé Filmater who was born with congenital heart defects (CHDs).

“Renesmé was only 26 days old when she had complications with her heart. Unfortunately, postoperative complications brought on by a sudden heart-related collapse caused her little heart to lose the battle. Doctors were not able to revive her after numerous attempts and they are still uncertain why her heart collapsed so suddenly,” said Jacques van Rensburg, a co-founder of the Renesmé Foundation.

And so the Renesmé Foundation was born.

Van Rensburg from Bassonia explained, “With permission and support from Renesmé’s family, myself and Dian Becker responded to the loss by forming the Renesmé Foundation in honour of her fragile heart.”

The foundation has been running for over a year now, and it is close to his heart.

“Renesmé proved that modern technology and knowledge of the right medical professionals could conquer CHDs.”

With this foundation, van Rensburg aims to help children get a medical response as quickly as possible. 

“The foundation mostly specialises in newborn babies. We understand that newborn babies tend to have complications where doctors fight to keep them in a good state, but sometimes it’s not enough.

“Going forward we want to see hospitals coming on board with this foundation and we want to create more awareness about our programme and mission.

“Getting open heart surgery equipment needed for operating on babies is one of our missions. We would like to own the machines and we are working towards having a good relationship with the doctors to guide us in this regard. We are also striving to have special ward rooms only for the newborn babies like Renesmé,” he said. 

He explained it is only through continued research, awareness, support, getting families and individuals on board for the needed resources that they will conquer their missions. 

“Children born with CHDs have the chance to survive, which is why the Renesmé Foundation exists. There are still challenges, but we want to do the best we can,” said van Rensburg. 

The foundation has assisted babies in just about every provinces but the plan is to centralise it because of the difficulties that arise when they reach out to babies from far away.

“The foundation is not only for heart surgeries. Recently, we assisted a premature baby who had difficulty breathing. We supplied an oxygen machine to help and today the baby is in good health.  “We want to assist any newborn babies in need of medical assistance,” he said.

“Our aim is to do the best we can for the children and parents who are in desperate need of healthcare for their children.”

For more information about the foundation you may contact Jacques van Rensburg on 062 990 0753.