62-year-old Tumuhirwe is a father of nine children, and works as a village carpenter in Uganda. His wife works as a farmer to support their large family.
“In May this year, Tumuhirwe noticed that a small swelling appeared on his lower abdomen,” our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), tells us. “It was painless at the time and this is the reason he first ignored it. After one month it started to pain him all the time that he became very uncomfortable.” Now, the pain is even affecting his work.
When Tumuhirwe visited a clinic hoping to get medicine to fix his pain, he was surprised to be diagnosed with a lipoma that required surgery to remove. A lipoma is a noncancerous growth of fat cells below the skin, and if not treated will continue to grow and cause Tumuhirwe pain. He and his wife work very hard to earn enough income to support their family, but unfortunately they do not have enough savings to pay for his treatment.
For $120, Tumuhirwe will have a mass excision procedure where doctors at AMHF will surgically remove the mass in his abdomen. “We expect that Tumuhirwe will be free from the swelling and the pain he is experiencing,” adds AMHF.
“After the surgery I will be free from pain, and continue to work hard for my family,” Tumuhirwe shares.