MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis has answered a Nigerian prince’s prayer.

“It is not that I’m sad. I am so happy. That is why I am crying,” Olanrewaju Abegunde said.

A few minutes into the interview, tears rolled down his face. Abegunde was thinking about his son, Adewale, helplessly lying in Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

The 14-year-old just got out of surgery.

“I was told he was having heart problems. He has a heart defect,” Abegunde said.

The father and son are from Nigeria where they are royalty, but where being royalty doesn’t mean you are wealthy.

Abegunde, who wore his traditional garb in the interview, is the prince of a community of more than 10,000 people in Unaun in Owo, Ondo State.

“We are facing a lot of problems in my community,” Abegunde said.

War, disease, and no free education are all struggles nobody would ever want to face.

On top of that, Adewale was born with bad eyesight. He’s blind in one eye and losing sight in the other.

In 2009, they learned about a hole in the boy’s heart.

Surgery in Nigeria is almost as dangerous as the diagnosis.

“That day was the saddest day I had in my life,” Abegunde said.

Friends told friends, and word spread across the Atlantic to Memphis, where some very caring people wanted to help.

“The family’s faces just light up with smiles, and that’s very rewarding,” Tracy Chism said.

She’s the chairwoman of the charity called Gift of Life Mid-South, a non-profit helping children from third-world countries, like Adewale, get heart treatment.

The group works with Le Bonheur.

“We were able to close the hole and let the blood flow to the lungs, and that will help his situation considerably,” Jane Hanafin, Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute director, said.

Doctors said Adewale’s surgery saved his life. He would have likely died in his 20s.

The recovery will now be the hardest part.

The little guy is weak, but will be OK.

“I thank you people,” Adewale said.

He and his father will take the story back to Nigeria. They’ll tell people how Memphis gave a boy a second chance at life.

While they’re still in Memphis, doctors will try to see if they can help Adewale’s eyesight.

The father and son are expected to be here until next week and are staying at the FedEx Family House.

Since Gift of Life Mid-South started in 2007, it’s helped 56 kids.

credit:  wreg