Joseph's Story

Joseph joined Watsi on December 9th, 2014. Nine years ago, Joseph joined our Universal Fund, supporting life-changing treatments for a new Watsi patient every month. Joseph's most recent donation traveled 8,300 miles to support Nan Ei, a two-year old girl from Burma, to fund a CT scan for persistent swelling on her neck.

Impact

Joseph has funded healthcare for 121 patients in 14 countries.

Patients funded by Joseph

Lawamutwe is a 7-year-old boy from Tanzania and the youngest of five children. His father works as a cattle breeder, and his mother is a dedicated stay-at-home parent. Unfortunately, due to a prolonged drought in the region, Lawamutwe's family has faced significant challenges in the past year. Their cattle have suffered starvation, resulting in losses and reduced financial stability. Lawamutwe and his father arrived at our medical partner's care center, brought by one of their relatives who live in the city. Due to a language barrier, the team brought in a Maasai translator to facilitate effective communication. Lawamutwe's father shared that he traveled over 400 kilometers to reach the care center to find medical care for his son. After a heartfelt welcome from our team, the staff performed a comprehensive medical assessment. They determined that Lawamutwe's orthopedic condition started at the age of three. He has shown signs of bowed legs, which have progressively worsened with time. As a young Maasai boy, grazing livestock is a fundamental part of Lawamutwe's culture, but his limited ability to walk long distances prevents him from engaging with his peers during these activities. Lawamutwe was diagnosed with a condition in which his left leg is bowed outward, and his right leg is bowed inward. This condition is typically caused by an excessive accumulation of fluoride in the bones, which often stems from contaminated drinking water. On June 6th, Lawamutwe will undergo surgery to help restore his mobility, allow him to participate in various activities, and significantly decrease his risk of future complications. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is requesting $880 to fund this procedure. Lawamutwe's father said: "I wish for my son to be able to go and be with his fellow boys. I hope his legs won't be a reason he is always alone."

$880raised
Fully funded

Zaw, who is 29 years old, lives with his wife and extended family members in Karen State, Burma. He and his wife are currently unemployed, although Zaw hopes to work as a second-hand motorbike seller. Zaw has had an irregular heartbeat since he was 10 years old. Although he visited a local clinic as a child, he was never provided a definitive diagnosis. By January 2022, he began to experience fatigue. His back and neck were stiff, and he lost his appetite. He also had difficulty sleeping, experienced a persistent cough and body aches, and his lips turned blue. After multiple hospital visits, Zaw was told he had a heart condition that required surgery. Unable to afford surgery in Burma, Zaw sought affordable care at Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) in Thailand. With the help of our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, he received a free echocardiogram, which revealed he had mitral valve regurgitation, atrial valve regurgitation, pulmonary valve regurgitation, and patent ductus arteriosus. He is now scheduled for a procedure at Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital in Bangkok on April 18th to repair or replace three of his valves and address any other issues with his heart. Currently, Zaw continues to experience fatigue, thus he is unable to work. He experiences shortness of breath and a racing heartbeat, for which he requires oxygen therapy three times a day. He needs your help to raise the $1,500 to fund his life-changing surgery. Zaw said: “I want to be free from this disease as soon as possible. Thank you all for helping with my treatment cost.”

$1,500raised
Fully funded

Ashin Mala is a 30-year-old monk who lives in a monastery in Karen State, Burma. He became a monk a year ago. As a monk, Ashin usually doesn’t have the right to save money and keep cash. But sometimes, worshippers donate some money, and he keeps it to use just in case. The monastery usually provides him two meals a day donated by the Buddhist followers. In October, one day, he visited a house of a member of ethnic armed group in the village. A kid was playing with a pistol and accidentally shot the gun in the wall. Unfortunately, the bullet ricocheted and hit his left eye. The villagers sent Ashin Mala to Myawaddy General Hospital immediately. At the hospital, an X-ray was done and showed that a piece of the bullet had entered below his right eyeball. The doctors stitched the gunshot wound and gave some medications. There was no ophthalmologist at hospital. Ashin visited the hospital regularly and got wound dressing as well as medication to relieve pain. But the pain didn’t go away. He has lost sight in his left eye. Pain and itchiness, and sometimes a burning sensation, is present in the right eye and surrounding area. Hot tears are coming out from both eyes during blinking occasionally whenever he reads book for a long time. Due to the lack of ophthalmologist, he was provided only with medications and eyedrops. Now doctors want Ashin Mala to undergo a CT scan, a procedure in which x-ray images taken from several angles are combined to produce cross-sectional images of the body. This scan will hopefully help doctors diagnose his condition and formulate an appropriate treatment plan. Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $414 to cover the cost of Ashin Mala's CT scan and care, scheduled for December 9th. Ashin Mala said, "I don’t want to blame anyone. It is my destiny. I am not sure my condition can be treated or not. But I am so happy to be treated here because I think I can have better health care here than in Burma. I don’t expect complete recovery, but it will be great if I can see with both eyes. In the future, I want to learn more about Dhamma and hope to attend Buddha University in the future."

$414raised
Fully funded