Lu is a 36-year-old woman who lives in Burma with her husband and seven children. Her relatives all live in the same village, and she enjoys having big family dinners together. However, for the past three months, Lu has been in intense pain, now diagnosed as a Ventricular Septal Defect.
Lu has a “hole” in her heart, in the septum between the left and right ventricle. This condition causes Lu to have heart palpitations, fatigue, chest pain, and back pain. It has been impossible for her to sleep with this discomfort. Lu grows crops and keeps chickens, but the work is difficult with her condition. On top of all of this, misdiagnoses caused Lu to spend close to her family’s yearly earnings on unsuccessful treatments.
For $1500, Lu can finally receive heart surgery necessary to repair her Ventricular Septal Defect. She will no longer have to worry about her pain and will have renewed energy. Lu misses her family while she is at the hospital, and looks forward to seeing them again!