Penninah is a manual laborer from Kenya. She is a mother of four children, whom she has raised alone after her husband left her. The children are now grown up; the firstborn is 32 years of age while the last born is 18 years old. Penninah did not go to secondary school and so her life has been a difficult one, doing any manual job such as cleaning clothes for neighbors. Her children are also manual workers.
Four years ago, Penninah began to experience troubling symptoms, including headaches, dry cough and difficulty in swallowing and feeling like choking at night. She was diagnosed with a multinodular goitre, an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse.
Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is helping Penninah receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on May 11th at our medical partner’s care center. Surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. This procedure will cost $688, and she and her family need help raising money.
“Whenever darkness comes I fear how I am going to sleep because of choking. I kindly seek for help. I hope my treatment will be successful so that I can regain my normal life,” said Penninah.