Behind every social media selfie, there is a real story…
When i lived in Los Angeles in 2004 i met Jacques, Didier Drogba’s closest friend. At this time i was a medical student with big dreams.
He told me that Didier wanted to help his country Ivory Coast and provide health care to children.
Fast forward in 2012, thanks to Jacques, with who i kept in touch for 8 years, Didier invited Moana and I to his Foundation’s gala in London. When i first met him, i was impressed by his kindness and charisma. Even though i had absolutely no knowledge in soccer, we discussed about his dream of building a hospital for the children.
In 2013, we spent New Year Eve together in Paris. Few months later we decided to build the first-ever mobile clinic for cardiovascular diseases. It was an incredible step for us!
Of course, as a surgeon i had absolutely no idea how to build a mobile clinic, but i could picture it as clear as i see my keyboard right now, every details and features were real for me. Our @theheartfund team gathered the best partners and experts to start the project. We took action!
On year later, The Heart Mobile was presented at our Cannes Film Festival yearly gala and we drove it to the port in Marseille, where it was shipped to Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire. It was real!
Despite few challenges it arrived in Ivory Coast and we were there to look at the curious children getting examined. Proud ivorian doctors were using our mobile clinic to screen, diagnose and treat children. We succeeded!
Since 2015, we have screened more than 10,000 patients. Last year we operated 22 children and young adults and launch a global program to operate a total of 100 patients in the next 2 years. We will not stop.
This story is for those who have dreams, who have doubts, who believe they can’t ask for help or can’t speak too loud!
Trust yourself, your vision, your intuition, your partners and your friends.
Give your precious time to people who believe in you, who love you for who you are -with your imperfections, yes ;)- and want your project to succeed genuinely.
Be obsessed, not matter what. You are your only limit!
Thank you and HBD @didierdrogba! ❤️
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