Verena is a small-scale farmer and a mother to eight children. Verena happily shared that all of her children are in school and that she and her husband work as farmers to help pay for their school fees. They also built a 4-room home for their family through their work selling their farm produce.
Ten years ago, Verena began to experience troubling symptoms, including a swelling on her neck. Although initially painless, the swelling increased over time. Recently, Verena’s airway is becoming obstructed, making it especially challenging for her to sleep, and she also becomes easily fatigued. She visited Rushoroza Hospital, our medical partner’s facility, for review. The doctors diagnosed her condition as a non-toxic nodular goiter, which is an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. Verena needs to undergo surgery to prevent her symptoms from worsening.
Fortunately, our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare (AMH), is helping Verena receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on May 14hth at AMH’s care center. During this procedure, surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. AMH is requesting $333 to fund the cost of this surgery.
Verena says, “I hope to live a normal and free life again through the surgery. My family and I cannot afford the surgery currently due to many unavoidable family activities that require funding, especially school fees. I will continue with farming after recovering completely.”
