Farshad Farahbakhshian
Farshad's Story

Farshad joined Watsi on May 11th, 2014. 60 other people also joined Watsi on that day! Farshad's most recent donation traveled 8,200 miles to support Joemer, a hard-working 39-year-old street food vendor from Philippines, to fund surgery to remove his gallbladder.

Impact

Farshad has funded healthcare for 213 patients in 13 countries.

Patients funded by Farshad

Sonita is from the Koh Kong province and lives with her parents and younger brother. Her parents are rainy-day rice farmers, and her brother is in grade one. She is in grade four and excels in Khmer literature and math. She shared that she would like to be a lawyer some day. When not studying, Sonita likes writing stories, reading books, doing homework, watching TV, and going to the market with her mother. At home, she eats a soft meal and drinks juice due to her inability to open her mouth. Sonita was born with temporal mandibular joint ankylosis. This is a bony or fibrous adhesion of the mandible joint components. Trauma is the most frequent cause, followed by infection, but Sonita's parents do not know how she developed it. She is unable to open her mouth, causing difficulties with chewing, speaking, and oral hygiene as well as limiting the growth of her mandible (micrognathia). She is shy, and shared that she is often embarrassed that she cannot speak well enough to be heard. Her parents took her to a local hospital when she was three, but did not receive any treatment. A villager suggested her parents should visit our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, for a diagnosis and treatment. Doctors have determined that she needs a bilateral condylectomy with the addition of a bone graft from her femur. Now, her family needs help to pay for the $469 procedure. Your donation will cover Sonita's surgery, medicines, and hospital stay. Sonita's mother said: "We are hopeful that the doctors can fix my daughter's jaw so she can open her mouth. We worry that she will not grow well because she cannot eat well."

$469raised
Fully funded

Nicholaus is a young boy from a family of five living in Tanzania. His parents are local farmers who practice subsistence farming. They try to provide for the family, but it has been hard for them to provide the basic needs. They sometimes live on one meal a day, and shared that buying clothes for their children is difficult. When Nicholaus was two years old, he fell into a pit of hot ashes, burning his right hand. The parents applied honey on the wound and left it to heal. They got rid of the open wound, but it left the boy with a burn scar contracture on his right hand. They live in a remote area where it is hard to access social services like medical care. The contractures tighten the area around the burn, and it is now hard for him to move the hand especially around the wrist and part of the fingers. Nicholaus' parents have tried seeking professional medical opinion for their son before, but have not been able to afford the recommended treatment. When they heard about Friends of the Plaster House (ALMC), they were hopeful, and travelled over 600 km to seek assistance for their son. Fortunately, our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Nicholaus receive treatment. On October 12th, surgeons at their care center will perform a burn contracture release surgery to help him move his hand easily. Now, he needs help to fund this $874 procedure. Nicholaus’s mother says “We left home with hope that when he comes back, his hand will be okay."

$874raised
Fully funded