Meet eight-year-old Mi Soe! Mi Soe lives with her parents and younger brother in Thailand. Her parents work as agricultural day laborers in their village, planting beans and corn to make money. Due to the seasonal nature of their work, they sometimes aren’t able to make ends meet and have to ask around for small loans. Despite their circumstances, Mi Soe’s mother dreams of sending Mi Soe and her brother to school. “When Mi Soe was just two years old," our medical partner writes, "she began showing signs of Thalassemia,” a genetic disorder which causes the body to produce abnormal hemoglobin resulting in symptoms like anemia, fatigue and stunted growth. "She had a fever and couldn't eat or sleep, she became very weak and wasn't able to walk. Since then she has had to come regularly to a clinic along the border for blood transfusions and medicine.” Mi Soe can’t attend school because she is too weak to walk. Without treatment, Mi Soe will continue to experience fatigue, jaundice, abdominal swelling, shortness of breath and overall weakness. For $1,000, Mi Soe will receive a splenectomy, or a spleen removal, with professional medical care before, during and after her surgery. This treatment will increase Mi Soe’s energy levels and overall appetite while reducing abdominal swelling. Eventually, she will have enough energy to walk again so she can go to school.