Saurabh Tandon
Saurabh's Story

Saurabh joined Watsi on October 5th, 2014. 5 other people also joined Watsi on that day! Saurabh's most recent donation traveled 8,500 miles to support Lillian, a 63-year-old widow and mother of three from Kenya, to fund a hysterectomy so she can fight uterine cancer.

Impact

Saurabh has funded healthcare for 9 patients in 6 countries.

Patients funded by Saurabh

Meet Cristian, an eight-month-old boy from Guatemala. Cristian is the only child of two loving parents. According to our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq (WK), Cristian’s father is a day laborer and his mother weaves textiles to sell at a market. To supplement their income, they also tend to a small corn field near their house. Cristian is acutely malnourished. Due to his condition, “Cristian has diarrhea and a fever, and his height and weight are far below the average for his age,” WK shares. “His parents cannot afford to pay for medication or hospital visits and so without intervention his health will continue to decline.” A healthy diet is essential for normal childhood growth--supporting both physical and cognitive development. With this condition, Cristian’s immune system may also diminish, exposing him to risk of infection. For $535, Cristian will be treated for acute malnutrition. He will receive nutritional supplements and medication to treat and prevent gastrointestinal infections causing his diarrhea. Cristian’s mother will also participate in intensive nutrition education courses--teaching her how to better care for her son’s nutritional needs. WK states that with the proposed treatment, “Cristian will begin to recoup the height and weight he has lost, will avoid the long term effects of malnutrition, and develop the ability to concentrate and eventually succeed in school and the work force.” "I want to learn all I can to help my first child," Cristian’s mother shares, "so that I can then help others and prevent malnutrition in the future.”

$535raised
Fully funded

“Bayron is a curious boy who likes to observe his surroundings,” shares our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq (WK). “He loves to play with a tiny plastic ball given to him by his neighbors and often pushes it around the house while his parents are away at work.” Bayron is a 15-month-old boy from Guatemala. He has acute malnutrition, also known as “stunting.” Stunting is the most common form of growth failure among children in Guatemala. If left untreated, stunting will continue to weaken Bayron’s immunity and put him at risk for diseases well into adulthood. Prior to their assessment, WK reports, “Bayron’s mother did not know her son was malnourished. She always thought his constant sickness, diarrhea, and low weight was due to ‘mal de ojo’, a superstition that is popular in his area where a neighbor or ill-thinking person in the community casts a spell of poor health upon a young child or baby.” After Bayron’s mother learned more about stunting, she is armed with new information and feels empowered that she can do something to improve her son’s health. $535 will fund the intervention that Bayron needs to recoup the weight and height he has lost. As part of his treatment, Bayron and his family will be assigned a personal case manager over the course of one to four months. During that time, Bayron will receive food and supplements as well as blood testing to determine if he has any acute infections or disease. If an infection is detected, antibiotics will be prescribed as needed. To make a lasting impact on this treatment, Bayron’s parents will receive intensive education on how to properly feed and care for their child. Upon completion of this intervention, Baryon’s “long term outlook is improved cognitive potential, school completion, and economic prospects,” WK adds. His mother says, “The work you are doing is so good and is going to help us so much. This is just such a big help."

$535raised
Fully funded