40-year-old Kali lives in Nepal with her husband and eight children. She looks after their cattle and farm to make a living, making enough to support their family for about three months. Her husband usually goes to India to work as a laborer. He only returns home once he has made enough money to support them for the rest of the year.
About five years ago, Kali began to have pain on the left side of her abdomen. It has been painful whenever she walks or lifts heavy weight, but when she had shared this with her family they used to just ignore it– Kali couldn’t afford to stop working.
When Kali was unable to tolerate the pain any longer, she took a five hour bus ride to reach Possible for treatment. There she was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. This is a protrusion of intestinal tissue through a tear in the abdominal wall near the groin, and requires surgery to fix. If left untreated, she is at risk of cutting off blood circulation to the bulging tissue, or bowel obstruction.
For $451, doctors will perform surgery to reposition the bulging tissue and repair the tear in her abdominal wall. This will relieve the pressure that caused Kali pain while walking and working.
“I will be happy if my treatment happens soon,” Kali shares.