“I want the doctors to help my mother breathe with ease,” says the son of Sabi, a 65-year-old mother and grandmother who lives in Nepal.
“Sabi has been suffering from breathing problems for a few years now,” our medical partner, Possible, tells us. “She started smoking young in life. Working in the dusty field, and cooking indoors with firewood aggravated her situation.”
Sabi has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung condition in which the airways become narrow and damaged, making it hard to breathe. While smoking is the most common cause of COPD, breathing toxic fumes or gases can also be triggers. Symptoms of COPD include shortness of breath, fatigue, wheezing, and coughing.
“Because of her old age, she is not as active anymore, and her pulmonary disease makes it worse for her,” Possible continues. “She wheezes when she speaks, gets breathless often, needs help even walking a little distance, and, currently, she has high fever, too.”
Sabi’s family owns a small shop that supports Sabi, her two sons, their wives, and their thirteen children. The family does not earn enough money from the shop to cover basic needs and pay for Sabi’s medical care.
With $270 in funding, Sabi can be admitted to the hospital for four days to improve her breathing. While hospitalized, she will be monitored closely while receiving supplemental oxygen, nebulizer treatments, inhalers, and medications to help open the airways in her lungs. Funding also pays for two outpatient follow-up visits at a community health center.
“With oxygen therapy and intake of antibiotics, it is expected that Sabi can breathe with much ease,” shares Possible. “Her fever will also be under control and she can do the basic activities she used to.”
Let’s help make that happen!