Five-year-old Wood lives in Haiti with his mother and father. His father is an electrician and his mother stays at home. Wood started preschool this year and likes playing with his friends, singing, and drawing. Wood was born with two abnormalities in his heart: he has a hole between the two lower chambers of his heart called a ventricular septal defect and, in addition, he has a malformation of his aortic valve that allows blood to leak backward through it. Together, these conditions mean that Wood's blood does not obtain the oxygen it needs, and also does not circulate well through his body. This leaves him feeling sickly and weak, and will eventually cause heart failure. Both conditions can be fixed during surgery. $1,500 raised by Watsi donors will help fund Wood's open-heart surgery. Have a Heart Cayman Islands, an organization that partners with local and international organizations to subsidize and provide life-saving heart surgeries to children based on financial need, is subsidizing an additional $10,000. "We are excited for Wood to have this surgery because he cannot keep up with his friends and gets tired very easily," his mother shares. "We hope he will be more normal afterwards!"

19-month-old Jose is from rural Guatemala. He has a history of malnutrition, and his mother recently brought him to our clinic because he has still not spoken a word. He seems to follow only the simplest of commands, but it is unclear if he can hear or if he just follows others' gestures. His mother is worried that if he does not receive a workup and therapy he will not be able to ever speak or attend school. Jose lives with his parents and two older siblings. His parents work as farmers, harvesting bananas on a plantation. Jose's favorite food is beans, and he loves to play with his one toy, which is a ball. His parents work hard to give Jose the best, and fight to make sure he eats well, but his mother is worried that he will never learn to talk because they can't afford expensive medical care to diagnose him and give him the opportunity to go to therapy to learn to speak. Treatment will provide Jose with a full diagnostic workup to determine the extent of his inability to hear. He will receive transportation, and lodging so they can receive care in the capital, which is many hours away from the rural coastal community in which they live. This will help Jose's mother feel more confident that her son can attend school on day, and be a good student. "Thanks for the collaboration of all the people that will help my son move forward," Jose's mother said. "I hope he can study and be a good man when he is bigger."

Meet Eh Tha, an 18-month-old baby from Burma. "She is very sweet and her mother says she never cries and is very well behaved," our medical partner, Burma Border Projects (BBP), tells us. “When she was born, her mother noticed a small bump above her nose between her eyes,” explains BBP. "The medics informed her that her baby had an encephalocele and would need to have surgery to have it repaired." This means that Eh Tha’s neural structures did not develop normally, leading to visible protrusions containing excess cerebrospinal fluid. Now, the defect is affecting her ability to see. With only Eh Tha’s father’s income to support the family, the medical costs of her condition are a strain on the family. They cannot afford the surgery that doctors have recommended for her. According to BBP, Eh Tha has already received surgery for a ventriculoperitoneal shunt to relieve the pressure of fluid in her brain and around her eyes. $1,500 will cover her second surgery to close the open wound. Eh Tha’s mother shares: “I want my daughter to be healthy and happy. I just want my daughter to have surgery as soon as possible and recover.”