Asa is a girl from Cambodia. She has a brother and a sister. She will start school in a few years. She enjoys watching cartoons and drawing. For the past two years, she has had a recurrent infection. She has experienced hearing loss, snoring at night, and difficulty breathing. She and her family traveled an hour to get to our medical partner for care. She needs to undergo a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy procedure to get rid of the infection and help her breathe easily again. Surgery is scheduled for June 7 and will cost $221. Her mother says, "I hope my daughter can breathe and sleep easily again after the surgery. We worry about her loss of sleep and hearing."

Agness is a 40-year-old woman from Malawi. She lives with her husband and five children. Agness works very hard caring for her family and also helps her husband with their small farm. When not working, Agness and her family enjoy going to their local church to pray and see friends. Since February, Agness has been experiencing pain in her abdomen. She was later diagnosed with cervical cancer, and was recommended for hysterectomy surgery, a procedure in which the uterus is removed. On August 17, Agness will undergo surgery at our medical partner's care center, Nkhoma Hospital. Our medical partner, World Altering Medicine, is asking for $650 to cover the cost of her procedure. "Thank you for this help," says Agness.

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.”

Roeun is an 82-year-old married woman who has three sons, three daughters, and twelve grandchildren. In her free time, she likes to go to the pagoda and listen to monks praying on the radio. Three years ago, Roeun developed blurred vision and itchiness in both eyes, making it difficult for her to see things clearly or work. She and her daughter visited our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre. Her doctors recommended that she undergo a surgical intervention to alleviate her symptoms. They proposed a small incision cataract surgery and an intraocular lens implant in each eye, which will replace her internal lenses with artificial lenses and restore her vision to full clarity. In total, the procedure, supplies, drugs, and three days of inpatient care will cost $292. Roeun's procedure is scheduled for February 24.

Nyein is a 28-year-old woman originally from Burma. When she was a child, her mother opened a mohinga, a Burmese noodle shop. Nyein quit school after sixth grade to help her mother in the shop. When she was 18 years old, Nyein moved to Bangkok to support her mother financially. She currently works as a babysitter and housekeeper in Bangkok, living with her employer’s family. She looks after the young children, prepares food, cleans the house, and does laundry. Nyein sends most of her income home to her mother, who she visits once a year. Three years ago, she paid for her mother to undergo two cataract surgeries to restore her vision. In September of 2016, Nyein began to experience stomachaches. She took painkillers, but the pain continued. Finally, she visited a public hospital in Bangkok, where she underwent an X-ray and was diagnosed with stomach flu. Despite taking oral medication, her symptoms were alleviated only temporarily. Nyein decided to return to Burma to see her mother. There, she learned about our medical partner’s clinic, Mae Tao Clinic (MTC). When Nyein visited MTC, she was diagnosed with a benign colon tumor. She underwent a tumor removal procedure on December 19. During her free time, Nyein loves watching Thai movies and listening to Thai music on her mobile phone. She hopes that she will be fully cured so that she can return to work and continue to support her mother. For now, she needs help to pay for this $1,500 surgery.

Sovan is a 46-year-old farmer with three sons and two daughters. He likes to watch TV and listen to the radio. In July 2016, Sovan was in a traffic collision, and he sustained a brachial plexus injury (BPI), which occurs when nerves in the back are damaged. He had difficulty using his left arm. When Sovan learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), he traveled for four hours to seek treatment. On November 4, he underwent BPI surgery, which involved diverting nerves from other locations and sewing them onto the non-functioning nerves. Recovery from this procedure can take up to six months. Now, Sovan needs help to raise $450 to cover his medical bills.

Kaw We is a 19-year-old Buddhist monk from a village in Burma. Kaw We currently lives and studies at the monastery in his village. His parents grow rice, and they pay rent for the land with half of their harvest. Kaw We is the youngest sibling in the family and has three older brothers and three older sisters. Kaw We has experienced uncomfortable urinary symptoms since he was a toddler. For most of his life, he relied on traditional medicine, which helped to alleviate the symptoms temporarily. Kaw We's family did not seek treatment at a hospital, assuming his condition was merely an annoyance and hoping to avoid the cost of modern medicine. With help from traditional medicine, Kaw We began to work on the family paddy field. Recently, however, Kaw We's symptoms worsened. He developed a fever, his face swelled, and he felt sharp pain in his abdomen. Traditional medicine no longer helped. Kaw We’s family learned from fellow villagers about our medical partner's clinic in Thailand. They decided to cross the border, traveling three hours to seek care for Kaw We’s condition. The family arrived on September 12, 2016. After several tests, Kaw We was diagnosed with a bladder stone. On October 31, 2016, doctors at our medical partner's hospital, Mae Sot General Hospital, performed a cystolithotomy surgery to remove the stone. Now, Kaw We's family needs help to pay for this life-changing procedure. “I would like to continue to be a monk," says Kaw We. "I am now more worried about my current condition, and my only hope is that it can be fully cured."

Mugisa is a 66 years old married man from Uganda, and a father of six. All of his children are now adults and casual laborers. Mugisa has a small banana plantation where he gets food for his family, selling the surplus to get money to support his family. In 2006, Mugisa developed painful swelling in his inguinal (groin) area. He visited a hospital once where he was diagnosed with a bilateral inguinal hernia, a condition where part of his intestine is protruding through his inner groin area in both sides. He was advised to have surgery, which he cannot afford. Mugisa has been using herbs but he has had no relief. Due to pain, he is unable to lift or carry heavy items. He also cannot dig and or walk long distances. If not treated, the hernia could become stuck, leading to damage to the intestine or even the stomach. $249 will cover the costs of the surgery and care Mugisa needs. After surgery, he hopes to regain his strength and work hard to rehabilitate his banana plantation, so that it can produce good bananas.

Augusto is a farmer from Central Malawi. He lives with his wife, near their five children and 10 grandchildren. He supports his family through farming and selling scones that he bakes. Augusto is currently living with an enlarged prostate - a benign condition that is easily treated surgically. This is also called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. He experiences discomfort and pain, but unfortunately has been unable to come up with the funds to pay for the surgery he needs. Augusto and his family are not nervous about the operation, just happy that he can receive treatment. "I am ready to go for the surgery," he shared in his pre-operative appointment.

35-year-old Maria has been a patient in a diabetes program for over two years now, and recently found out that she was pregnant. Since she is diabetic, blood sugar control as well as regular appointments with an obstetrician in a hospital are incredibly important to prevent life-threatening complications. She is now about 23 weeks pregnant, entering into the most risky period of her pregnancy. Maria lives with her spouse, her son, and her mother-in-law in a small adobe house with a tin roof. She is from a rural village in the mountains of Guatemala. This means that she lives far away from a hospital, and speaks little Spanish, the only language spoken in hospitals. She weaves traditional Maya blouses. She also raises rabbits and chickens to be able to buy food when her husband is without work. Her husband works as a day laborer, making little money each day there is work. This means that the costs of transport to the hospital, medications, and labs are far out of reach for their family. $281 will provide transport for Maria from her house to the hospital, translation and advocacy services for her while she's in the hospital, and the labs and medications she needs to prevent life-threatening complications for her and her baby. A medical team will work with her to make a birth plan so her and her family will feel comfortable going to the hospital to give birth, allowing her to receive life-saving care. Maria says, "I am happy with my family and my new pregnancy. I will do my part so that everything turns out well."

Moo Thaw is a 21-year-old man who has lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for one year. His parents passed away when he was young. He is currently in his final year at a junior college. Four years ago, Moo Thaw began to notice pain in his right leg. The leg began to swell. He visited a clinic and was diagnosed with a cyst in his right knee joint. He received some medicine and returned to home. After two or three months, Moo Thaw returned to the clinic after the pain got worse, but again was just given pain killers. Finally, after returning several times, he received a blood test, CT scan, and received some medicine. The tests confirmed that he has a benign cyst on his knee as well as Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis, or inflammation of the joint lining. Moo Thaw is worried about his condition. When he sees his friends play football, he really wants to play but cannot. He has difficulty walking, and often finds that his condition interferes with his daily life. Fortunately, Moo Thaw can receive the treatment he needs to fully recover. "I hope that after surgery I will be better and can walk normally like other people," Moo Thaw shared.

Kakuliremu is 72-years-old, a widow and mother of five children. She has no source of income and depends on her son who lives with her. Two years ago, Kakuliremu started feeling lower abdominal pain and noticed an unusual mass. She feels very uncomfortable and she has back pain as well. Kakuliremu is unable to walk long distances, or dig. She visited a hospital in the past where she was admitted and advised to have surgery, but she couldn’t afford to pay for it. She has been diagnosed with uterine prolapse. All of her children are subsistence farmers, and they cannot afford to pay for her treatment. Her son who brought her to hospital said, “If we had money, our mother wouldn’t have suffered for all this time. We see her in pain but our hands are tied; we have no money.” As she was leaving the hospital, a lady in the ward advised her to come to Virika Hospital for assistance, where she has been recommended to have a uterine prolapse repair surgery. For $280, Kakuliremu will undergo this surgery to ease her pain and discomfort. “The mass took away my peace and I am unable to do any work," shares Kakuliremu. After surgery she hopes to resume digging to produce food for herself.