Kosal is currently ten years old and in the fifth grade. At home, he has two older brothers. Like any boy his age, he enjoys watching TV, reading books, and playing games.
When he was five years old, Kosal developed an infection in his left ear. He did not receive treatment, and eventually the infection to spread to his right ear. He has now been diagnosed with chronic otitis media, or inflammation in his middle ear, which has caused both of his eardrums to rupture. As a result, he commonly experiences fluid discharge from his ears, hearing loss, and tinnitus, or the perception of a ringing or buzzing sound in the easr.
After finding out about the care that our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC), could provide, Kosal and his mother traveled over three hours by taxi so that he could have surgery at CSC on August 30, 2016. There, ENT surgeons successfully performed a myringotomy procedure in Kosal’s right ear to treat the infection and drain the fluid in the middle ear.
On his left side, however, a cholesteatoma, or abnormal skin growth, has formed. Kosal is scheduled to undergo another procedure on January 5. Our medical partner, CSC, is requesting $842 to pay for the required mastoidectomy surgery to remove the chloesteatoma.
Kosal hopes to continue school without any hearing problems. He says, “I hope that I can hear clearly because I want to become a teacher.”
