Meet one-month-old Arnold, an active baby boy from Tanzania. “Arnold’s parents are a young couple and Arnold is their first born,” reports our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). “His mother is a homemaker and his father works as a wildlife guard in a wildlife conservation area.”
Arnold was born with a myelomeningocele, a birth defect in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. “Arnold has an open lesion on his lower back which is leaking cerebral spinal fluid,” continues AMHF. “If not treated, Arnold will be at risk of contracting infections causing bigger problems.”
After an extensive hospital stay for Arnold and his mother, Arnold’s parents are unable to cover the cost of this procedure. “They are worried about the condition of their son and they have already spent quite a lot of money in a hospital,” reports AMHF. “Nothing was done regarding the open wound on his back. They badly need financial support so that their son can be treated.”
For $1100, Arnold will receive surgery to close the covering around his spinal cord. “The cerebral spinal fluid will no longer leak from Arnold’s back, reducing the risk of contracting infection and allowing him to live healthy,” says AMHF.
“We are very happy to be blessed with a son and we want him to live and have a good future,” says Arnold’s mother. Let’s help Arnold enjoy a healthy, thriving childhood.