Anthonie is a student from Haiti. He lives with his aunt and uncle and their family in a small town in northern Haiti. He enjoys going to school and church. Anthonie has a cardiac condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. This condition involves several related defects including a hole between two chambers of the heart, and a muscular blockage of one of the valves. These prevent blood from flowing normally through his body, leaving him weak and short of breath. The care Anthonie needs is not available in Haiti so he needs to travel for surgery. He will fly to the Cayman Islands and on January 9th will undergo cardiac surgery. During surgery, surgeons will sew a patch over the hole to close it, and remove the muscular blockage in his heart. Another organization, Have a Heart Cayman, is also contributing $16,000 to pay for his treatment. Anthonie's family also needs help to fund the costs of surgery prep, travel, and follow-up care. The $1,500 bill covers labs, medicines, and checkup and followup appointments. It also pays for obtaining his passport, and for the social worker from our medical partner, Haiti Cardiac Alliance, who will accompany Anthonie's family overseas. Anthonie's aunt says, "Anthonie has been very sick for a long time, we are all praying that this is the miracle that will make him better!"

David is a 17-year-old student from Kenya. He aspires to become a surgeon to help patients and children in need with different deformities. David, who is the third child in a family of four, lives in a children’s home based in Mombasa (Rainbow Children’s Home) together with his siblings. His mother does menial jobs, and is unable to support the children, so they are getting help from the orphanage. He is currently a 7th-grade student at the Rainbow Academy, a school nearby. David has clubfoot on both feet. Clubfoot is a condition in which the foot is twisted out of shape. This causes difficulty walking and even wearing shoes. Fortunately, David traveled to visit our medical partner's care center, AIC Cure International Hospital. There, surgeons will perform clubfoot repair surgery on February 27th. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is requesting $1,286 to fund David's clubfoot repair. After treatment, he will be able to walk easily. David said, “I want to become the best surgeon in the world so as to offer my experience and services to needy children.”

Sanyu is a farmer and a mother of eight children. Her oldest three daughters are married and the rest are still in school. Sanyu is a widow, whose husband died in 2015, but with farming, she has been able to raise her children and sustain a living. Sanyu and her family live in a three-room, unfinished, semi-permanent house, which her husband was building at the time he passed. Eight years ago, Sanyu began to experience troubling symptoms, including heart palpitations, persistent headaches, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing. She was diagnosed with a goiter, an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Sanyu receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on February 10th at our medical partner's care center. Surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. This procedure will cost $252, and she and her family need help raising money. Sanyu says “This is my only hope of getting better. My hope is in your support; without it, I have no other way of undergoing my surgery.”