Queen is an 11-month-old baby from Tanzania. She is the first and only child to her mother, who has been raising Queen as a single parent. Queen and her mother live with her grandmother, who is a subsistence farmer and the primary provider for the family.
Queen was born healthy, but a few months ago, her head began swelling and she started becoming irritable and losing vision. Concerned, her mother took Queen to a local hospital, where doctors diagnosed Queen with acquired hydrocephalus, a condition where cerebral spinal fluid doesn't properly drain from the brain. If left untreated, hydrocephalus can cause brain damage and even become life-threatening.
On July 12, doctors at our medical partner's care center, Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre, will perform an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) surgery on Queen to help drain the cerebral spinal fluid from her brain. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is requesting $1,238 to fund the treatment.
“Please help my daughter get well," says Queen's mother.