“I love working on my small farm. It is the source of meals for me and my husband. I have had to get someone to help on it and this is not an expense that I can afford. I want to be well enough to work on it myself again.” Meet Mary, a 67-year-old mother of seven from Kenya.
According to our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), “Mary has suffered from stomach pain for almost ten years. She is in constant discomfort around her abdomen and this has made it difficult for her to work on her farm.”
Her pain and discomfort occurs as a result of symptomatic cholelithiasis, a condition that involves the presence of gallstones in the biliary tract. If her condition goes untreated, “Mary will continue experiencing pain and may suffer jaundice, rapid heartbeat and abrupt blood pressure drop. The gallstones could also lead to infection and inflammation of the gallbladder.”
The fact that Mary’s gallstones are symptomatic calls for surgical intervention. Mary’s family is subsidizing the treatment with $220 of their own funds, and with another $620, we can help fund a curative laparotomy—a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity to remove the gallstones. AMHF expects Mary’s discomfort and pain to end after her surgery and subsequent recovery.