Mother's 30-year battle with heart disease

Annastacia Abanja, with her child Kally Abanja when she attended the Marking of the World Heart Day at Nairobi Railways club, Nairobi.She has had two open heart surgery,one in 2011 and 2014.The marking of the Day is meant to create heart-healthy environments by ensuring that people are able to make heart-healthy choices wherever they live. PHOTO BY DAVID NJAAGA.

For Anastasia Abanja, 41, hospital wards had been her second home as she battled a heart disease. She first went to hospital in 1982, aged seven. The heart rate had gone up, she had fever and would constantly get tired walking around the village.

Ms Abanja visited a local hospital in Kisumu in 1982 but after her condition worsened she was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in 1986.