Mu is a nine-year-old girl from Karen State, Burma. She has thalassemia, a blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, and she requires regular blood transfusions. The condition is associated with enlarged organs.
Doctors recently noticed that Mu’s spleen is much larger than normal, putting her at risk for a rupture. They recommended Mu receive a splenectomy to remove her spleen.
Mu’s mother works as a vegetable vender, and her father feeds pigs for a living, though he recently stopped working to care for his daughter. Mu’s parents are in debt from medical bills, so they simply can’t pay for their daughter’s operation.
On July 13, surgeons at our medical partner’s care center, Mae Sot General Hospital, will perform a splenectomy for Mu. Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $1,500 to fund the surgery.
“I hope we will defeat my daughter’s condition so that she can live to become a nurse and help others in need when she grows up,” says Mu’s father.