Scott HarrisonUNIVERSAL FUND MEMBER
Scott's Story

Scott joined Watsi on March 15th, 2015. Nine years ago, Scott joined our Universal Fund, supporting life-changing treatments for a new Watsi patient every month. Scott's most recent donation traveled 6,900 miles to support Hla Moe, a 30-year-old man from Burma, to fund kidney surgery.

Impact

Scott has funded healthcare for 109 patients in 14 countries.

Patients funded by Scott

Khin is a 49-year-old refugee living with her father, her daughter and her younger sister in a refugee camp, in Tak Province along the Thail-Burma border. Her family fled from Karen State, Burma to Thailand in 2017 because of the conflict in their area. Khin’s father is retired and her daughter is a student. Khin’s sister looks after their retired father at home. Khin Mar is a day labourer in the camp. However, the job is not available every day. Every month her family receives 1,200 baht (approx. 40 USD) on a cash card from the organization The Border Consortium. This amount combined with her monthly salary is enough to cover their daily needs. They receive free basic health care provided by the International Rescue Committee in the camp but surgical care is not available there. In the middle of 2023, Khin noticed pain in her lower abdomen. Still, she did not go to the hospital or clinic as she thought the process was normal for women who are getting older and close to menopause. However, in the beginning of November, she noticed that the pain worsened and now the pain is constant. She visited the hospital in the camp, where the medic gave her some medication and she returned home. The pain did not resolve and continued. On 13 November, she returned to the hospital in the camp where she met with the doctor and the doctor performed an ultrasound for her and told her that there is a mass in her uterus. The doctor told her that they will refer her to Mae Sot Hospital (MSH) where she received another ultrasound, and the doctor diagnosed her with uterine myoma - a benign tumour in the uterus and also told her that she needs surgery to remove the mass as well as her whole uterus. Khin has been experiencing lower abdominal pain and back pain almost every day now. She cannot sleep as she worries that if she receives surgery, she will not be able to work and will not have income. At the same time, she also feels hard to perform her job well as she feels that her back pain makes it worse for her when she washes clothes. If left untreated, Khin's symptoms will continue to worsen and put her at risk for further health complications in the future. Fortunately, Khin is scheduled to undergo her hysterectomy which will heal her condition on December 4th. Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $1,500 to cover the cost of her procedure and care. After surgery, she will no longer in pain and she will be able to continue her job comfortably like before. Khin said, “if I do not work, I worry that I will not have enough income for my family and also when I heard that I need surgery, I worry about the surgery cost. When I heard that there will be a donor for me, my father and I are very happy as we know we cannot afford to pay for this expensive surgery.”

$940raised
$560to go

Festo is a 3-year-old boy and the seventh child in his family of eight. His family resides in a remote village called Itenka in the Mpanda district. Both of his parents engage in small-scale farming, earning just enough to cover their daily expenses. However, with the older children attending school, the parents are doing their best to manage both educational expenses and other day-to-day needs. During the initial stages of learning how to walk, Festo's parents noticed that he displayed signs of bowed legs. Initially, they attributed it to his newly acquired walking skills and assumed that his bones were not strong enough. However, at age of two, he was diagnosed with bilateral varus, characterized by bilateral knocking of the knees, which significantly hinders his ability to move around comfortably. Festo quickly becomes fatigued and experiences pain while attempting to walk. Furthermore, his overall health has been unstable, largely due to malnutrition. Fortunately, our medical partner African Mission Healthcare (AMH) can help. Festo is scheduled for corrective surgery on August 1st, and AMH is requesting $880 to fund the procedure. Treatment will hopefully restore Festo's mobility, allow him to participate in a variety of activities, and greatly decrease his risk of future complications. Festo’s mother shared, “I hope my boy to grow older free from any kind of disability. I hope he gets the right treatment that will make it possible to have a good life in the future.”

$880raised
Fully funded