Tumwebaze is a widow from Uganda with seven children. Three of jer children are still in school and four are married and self-employed. Her husband passed on 18 years ago so she takes care of the children and those still in school. Tumwebaze shared that she is feeling overwhelmed and cannot raise any money for her surgery. Around 25 years ago, Tumwebaze began to experience troubling symptoms, including pain while swallowing, difficulty in breathing and she easily gets tired after doing a small activity. She was diagnosed with a goiter, an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Tumwebaze receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on May 19th at our medical partner's care center. Surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. This procedure will cost $264, and she and her family need help raising money. Tumwebaze says: “I will be very glad after undergoing surgery and resuming farming."

Talusha is a student from Haiti. She lives with her parents, brothers, and sisters in a small coastal town in northern Haiti. She is in fourth grade and enjoys going to school, especially studying math and science. Talusha has a cardiac condition called atrial septal defect. A hole exists between the two upper chambers of her heart. Blood leaks through this hole, leaving her sickly and weak. Talusha will fly to Cayman Islands to receive treatment. She will undergo cardiac surgery, during which surgeons will use a catheter to close the hole in her heart with a device. Another organization, Have a Heart Cayman, is contributing $12,000 to pay for surgery. Talusha's family also needs help to fund the costs of travel, scheduled for November 3. The $1,343 bill covers her flight to the hospital. Our medical partner, Haiti Cardiac Alliance, will also provide support to the family as they travel overseas. We are also fundraising for her [surgical prep costs](https://watsi.org/profile/abb173404d69-talusha). She says, "I am excited to get on a plane for the first time and see another country!"

Mirlande is a 50-year-old woman who is from a commune in Haiti and resides there with her husband. She enjoys going to church and participates in the activities put on by her church regularly. To support herself, Mirlande has always sold alimentary products as a street merchant. In April 2016, Mirlande started to feel pain in her right arm that eventually moved to the top of her chest. She immediately went to the hospital. She was referred to another facility in Port-au-Prince, the capital, to have a sonogram and mammogram. Nothing abnormal was found in her breast. For three months, Mirlande had exams and multiple follow-up visits but she never received any results about the mass. After a lot of frustration and money spent, she finally went to a private doctor, where she was officially diagnosed with breast cancer and was referred to our medical partner's care center. In January, she started her chemotherapy, a treatment that decreases the cancerous cells in the body. After four sessions of chemotherapy, Mirlande will be having a mastectomy on August 4. Our medical partner, Innovating Health International, is requesting $1,085 to fund her care. She says, “We are human and we do get sick but you have to take care of yourself and be strong.”

Kamurabye is a 56-year-old man from Uganda who is married and a father of eleven. Most of his children dropped out of school because of lack of school fees. Both Kamurabye and his wife are peasants. Most of the food they cultivate is for home consumption. They sell the little surplus in order to get basic items such as sugar and salt for the family. Kamurabye has lived with right groin swelling for two years. The swelling started small but kept increasing with time. Sometimes it disappears for hours and reappears with pain. Kamurabye had never reported his condition to a hospital because of lack of money. Due to the pain, Kamurabye is unable to lift heavy items. The pain worsens when digging or when doing any straining. If not treated, the inguinal hernia (part of the intestine protrudes through the inner groin) could become stuck, leading to damage to the intestine or even the stomach. $249 will cover the costs of the surgery and care Kamurabye needs. After surgery, Kamurabye hopes to continue working in his gardens and plans to plant cash crops, such as coffee, so that he can earn more income in the future. Kamurabye shared, “God bless everyone who will assist me.”