Samuel is a resilient 33-year-old man who remains in good spirits and has a generous heart despite his medical condition. As a newborn he had hydrocephalus, a potentially life-threatening condition of excess fluid in the brain, but survived and grew up to do fairly well. A few months ago, Samuel started to experience severe headaches and seizures. He was diagnosed with a mucocele (a mucus-containing cystic lesion) in his brain. If left untreated, Samuel will continue to have severe symptoms which can lead to premature death.
Samuel currently lives with his mother in a small village. She has been the rock of their family, supporting him and his five siblings single-handedly after the death of their father years ago. The income she makes from her small vegetable farm combined with Samuel’s wages from working as a casual laborer are still not enough to cover the medical care he needs.
The craniotomy needed to remove the mucocele from Samuel’s brain costs $1,500. The doctors expect this will relieve his symptoms and help him live a long and healthy life. “I would love to open a kiosk when I get better. Then I could help my mother,” says Samuel. Let’s make this happen for him!