Dezrie was born in December 2006, premature on 35 weeks. Since she was 6 months old she used to be admitted with pneumonia and by the time she was 3 years old, sh has been admitted to hospital about 10 times.

I first noticed there was something wrong with my chest when I was around ten years old. The dent in my chest just kept getting worse to the point where I was too embarrassed to ever take my shirt off. I could never swim and changing clothes for gym class at school was a nightmare. I was teased all my life for being tall and skinny and having a deformed chest just made things so much worse.

In 2011 Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital performed its first Nuss procedure, with Dr Ivan Schewitz operating pro bono. Read Tinika’s story.