Thein lives with his mother and two younger brothers in Karen State, Burma. He and his brothers are day labourers but Thein stopped working in August 2021 after he injured his right foot. In his free time, he likes to clean their house.
In August 2021, Thein was cleaning a fishpond as part of his work when he injured his right foot. At home, the area around his right instep was itchy, and he scratched his foot throughout the evening. When he woke up the next day, he saw a small blister where he had scratched his instep, which became swollen and itchier. He went to two different clinics, but the oral medications and the injections he received never helped. At the third clinic he went to, the doctor applied an ointment to his right instep, which was turning black, and told him they would have to amputate his foot if the ointment did not work. Luckily, their neighbour referred Thein just in time to Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) for assistance accessing further treatment.
After BCMF referred Thein to Mawlayine Christian Leprosy Hospital (MCLH), he received surgery to remove necrotic tissue from his wound on 14 September 2021. However, two days after his surgery, the doctor checked his foot and saw that his foot was not healing, with new necrotic tissue. As Thein is still in a lot of pain despite taking painkillers, the doctor has decided that they will have to amputate his right leg below his knee on 21 September 2021.
Currently, Thein’s right foot is still swollen and painful. Due to the pain, he cannot sleep well and has little appetite, spending most of his day trying to sleep.
Thein said, “I am so worried and scared to have my right foot amputated but the doctor told me that this is the only option left so that I can recover and be free from the pain. I have a friend whose foot was also amputated and when I told him about my condition, they encouraged me and told me that even though our feet are amputated, we can still do many things with an artificial foot. He told me not to worry. I feel better and stronger after I talked to him. I have told the doctor to go though with the amputation.”