Watsi

Success! Chan Thou from Cambodia raised $1,025 to fund a hip replacement.

100%

$1,025 raised, $0 to go

$1,025

raised

to go

Fully funded

Chan Thou's treatment was fully funded on March 6, 2018.

Chan Thou's story
Chan Thou's update

Photo of Chan Thou post-operation

January 16, 2018

Chan Thou underwent a hip replacement.

Chan Thou is recovering well from surgery. She is doing light physiotherapy as his mobility continues to improve. She will continue to do physiotherapy at home, and looks forward to finally being able to sleep through the night pain-free.

Her son says, “I am so happy my mom isn’t in pain anymore.”

Chan Thou is recovering well from surgery. She is doing light physiotherapy as his mobility continues to improve. She will continue to do ph...

January 11, 2018

Chan Thou is a grandmother from Cambodia. She has two sons and two grandchildren. She works at a money exchange stall in the market.

She has been experiencing pain on her right hip for more than 12 years. The pain is so severe that she cannot walk on her own or sleep at night.

Fortunately, Chan Thou learned about our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre. At CSC, surgeons can perform a total hip replacement to relieve Chan Thou of her pain and allow her to walk easily. Treatment is scheduled for January 11, and Chan Thou needs help raising $1,025 to pay for this procedure.

She says, “I hope I can take care of my family and walk again.”

Chan Thou is a grandmother from Cambodia. She has two sons and two grandchildren. She works at a money exchange stall in the market. She ...

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Learn more

Chan Thou's case was submitted by Lindsay Bownik at Children's Surgical Centre.

Chan Thou's Timeline

January 11, 2018
PROFILE SUBMITTED
Chan Thou was submitted by Lindsay Bownik, Stakeholder Relations Officer at Children's Surgical Centre.
January 11, 2018
TREATMENT OCCURRED
Chan Thou received treatment at Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Centre in Cambodia. Medical partners often provide care to patients accepted by Watsi before those patients are fully funded, operating under the guarantee that the cost of care will be paid for by donors.
January 12, 2018
PROFILE PUBLISHED
Chan Thou's profile was published to start raising funds.
January 16, 2018
TREATMENT UPDATE
Chan Thou's treatment was successful. Read the update.
March 6, 2018
FULLY FUNDED
Chan Thou's treatment was fully funded.

Share Chan Thou's story

Funded by 32 donors

Funded by 32 donors

Treatment

Hip Replacement

Cost Breakdown
Diagnosis
Procedure

On average, it costs $1,025 for Chan Thou's treatment

Hospital Fees

$160

Medical Staff

$517

Medication

Supplies

$340

Labs

Radiology

Symptoms
Impact on patient's life
Cultural or regional significance

What kinds of symptoms do patients experience before receiving treatment?

Patients typically experience severe hip pain and difficulty walking or standing. By the time Children's Surgical Centre provides treatment, patients have often lived with these symptoms for months or more. A total hip replacement (THR) treats hips that are severely damaged and therefore not amenable to other forms of treatment.

What is the impact on patients’ lives of living with these conditions?

Patients may not be able to walk or walk normally. Physical activity is extremely restricted, making any movement painful. This prevents patients from carrying out daily life, going to work, attending school, or taking care of themselves and their families.

What cultural or regional factors affect the treatment of these conditions?

Many Cambodians use motorbikes as their main form of transportation. Because of weak traffic laws, motorbike accidents are common. Injured individuals who cannot afford treatment often self-medicate or rely on Khmer traditional healers. Their fractures never heal, and patients live with the pain. Steroids are a common painkiller in Cambodia. No prescription is required. Individuals who do intense physical labor take steroids regularly, which restricts blood flow to the joints. This causes bone tissue death and tiny bone breaks, making bones more susceptible to breaks and fractures.

Process
Impact on patient's life
Risks and side-effects
Accessibility
Alternatives

What does the treatment process look like?

During a hip replacement, doctors replace both the acetabulum (hipbone socket) and femoral head (head of the femur) with prosthetic implants. Doctors remove the dead or broken bone. A cup is inserted into the acetabulum, and a metal hip prosthesis is inserted into the femur.

What is the impact of this treatment on the patient’s life?

The patient will be able to walk independently without pain, improving quality of life.

What potential side effects or risks come with this treatment?

Severe disability, arthritis, and avascular necrosis of the hip can be successfully treated by a THR. This treatment is highly effective, with few risks.

How accessible is treatment in the area? What is the typical journey like for a patient to receive care?

Most Cambodians visit Khmer traditional healers before seeking modern medical care. As recently as ten years ago, a THR was unavailable in Cambodia. Children's Surgical Centre is one of the few centers that provides this procedure.

What are the alternatives to this treatment?

Younger patients can elect to undergo hip fusion surgery and postpone the THR until later in life. The duration of the prosthesis is 10-15 years.

Meet another patient you can support

100% of your donation funds life-changing surgery.

Peace is a 60-year-old farmer and a mother of seven children. She is also widowed as her husband unfortunately passed away this year in May due to cancer of the stomach. Peace works incredibly hard to support and take care of her children by earning a living from the coffee and banana plantation that her husband left her with. In addition, she weaves millet baskets and mats earning her an extra income. However, she shared that due to her age, poor eyesight hinders her from weaving now. For a year now, Peace has been experiencing issues of stomach pain, backache, general body weakness paralysis, excessive bleeding, and great discomfort. At first, she thought it was simple abdominal pain and attended the clinic. She was misdiagnosed and given urinary tract infection treatment but was not relieved of her pain. Since then, Peace has been diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia. She needs to undergo a hysterectomy, a procedure in which surgeons will remove her uterus to help her heal. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is requesting $219 to fund Peace's surgery. She is scheduled to undergo gynecological surgery at our medical partner’s care center on August 5th. Once recovered, Peace will be able to resume her daily activities free of pain. Peace says: “I hope that once I am given financial support, my surgery will be possible, I will get well and continue with farming because my children are still in school and they need my support because they have no one else.”

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Naw Blut lives with her husband, toddler son, and parents in a refugee camp in northern Thailand. She is a homemaker, her parents are retired, and her husband works at the Water and Sanitation Department in the refugee camp. Their family's monthly income of 2,694 baht ($89.80 USD) is just enough to cover their daily needs as they currently have to buy formula milk for Naw Blut's toddler. Naw Blut has been receiving a antenatal care at the clinic at the refugee camp. Earlier this month, Naw Blut went for her follow-up appointment and since she was 37 weeks pregnant and had previously had an emergency C-section, she was told she would need to see a specialist about her delivery. The next day, staff from the organization that helps run the camp (Malteser International (MI) Thailand), brought her to Mae Sariang Hospital. After she met the doctor, the doctor said she could not give birth vaginally because of the status of her pregnancy and her last delivery. The team has scheduled her to undergo a c-section to safely delivery her baby. As Naw Blut cannot afford to pay for the procedure, MI staff referred her to our medical partner Burma Children Medical Fund for financial support.

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