Matiyas is a two-year-old boy from Ethiopia. His mother is a homemaker who looks after Matiyas and his younger sister, while his father is a taxi driver. Since birth, he has been fighting a severe, ongoing battle with chronic tonsillitis, a condition that deeply impacts his daily life and overall well-being. His struggle is at its worst during the night. Because his tonsils are constantly swollen, he faces significant airway blockage that makes it nearly impossible for him to breathe through his nose while he sleeps. Instead of resting peacefully, he spends his nights gasping for air and struggling to catch his breath, leaving both him and his parents exhausted and worried. Our medical partner, Saglan Wajee General Hospital, is requesting $700 to fund a tonsillectomy for Matiyas, which is scheduled to take place on May 23rd. Surgeons will remove his tonsils, hopefully relieving Matiyas of his symptoms and helping him live more comfortably. Matiyas's parents shared, "Our deepest hope is for our little boy to finally breathe easily, sleep peacefully through the night, and wake up refreshed instead of gasping for air."

Theary is a fifth-grade student from Cambodia. She enjoys learning to read and write Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, at school. Theary lives with her parents and two sisters. Her father works as a jeweler, and her mother is a meat vendor at a local market. At home, Theary loves to play with her siblings. Theary was born with hereditary multiple exostoses, a condition that causes multiple bony growths. Over the past year, the masses in her right forearm and near the back of her distal femur have gradually increased in size. In particular, the large mass near the back of her distal femur periodically compresses the sciatic nerve. As a result, Theary experiences intermittent discomfort and stiffness, which may affect her physical movement. Theary traveled to our medical partner's care center to receive treatment. On October 15th, surgeons at Children's Surgical Centre (CSC) will remove the mass. Now, Theary needs help to raise $344 to fund this procedure. Theary's father stated, “I have the same condition, so I understand how worrying these growing masses can be. I hope the surgery will help my daughter by removing the large mass and reducing the pressure on the nerve in her leg. I want her to recover well and move around more comfortably without these problems interfering with her daily life.”

Mcdonald is a 66-year-old father and grandfather from Malawi. He and his wife live in a small village, where they depend on farming maize and groundnuts for their livelihood. Farming has always been an important part of their lives, but his illness has gradually made it difficult for him to continue working in the fields. Six years ago, Mcdonald started experiencing uncomfortable symptoms, and a reliance on the catheter. As his health progressively worsened, he could no longer work on the farm, leaving his younger sister to help with the farming. McDonald and his family decided to seek a lasting solution for his condition. He was advised to seek care at Nkhoma Mission Hospital, a journey that took 5 hours. At the hospital, Mcdonald was diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Physicians at Nkhoma Hospital determined that Mcdonald should undergo a prostatectomy, a surgery to remove part or all of the prostate. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is requesting $530 to fund this procedure. The treatment is scheduled to take place at Nkhoma Hospital on September 9th and, once completed, it will hopefully improve Mcdonald's quality of life. McDonald said, “I am hoping that with the surgery treatment, I can finally be free from the catheter and return to the life I had before. I want to go back to my farm, work again with my wife, and enjoy my family without constantly worrying about my health.”