Meet Erla

Success! Erla from Haiti raised $849 for a life-saving mastectomy.

Photo of Erla post-operation
$849
raised
$0
to go
Fully funded
Erla's treatment was fully funded on December 18, 2015.
  • Erla's story
  • Erla's update
November 18, 2015
April 21, 2016

Erla is doing well after surgery. Our medical partner, Project Medishare (PM), explains: "We had the opportunity to speak to her about how s...

Read more

Erla's Timeline

  • November 18, 2015
    PROFILE SUBMITTED

    Erla was submitted by Vince DeGennaro, Medical Director at Project Medishare

  • December 1, 2015
    PROFILE PUBLISHED

    Erla's profile was published to start raising funds.

  • December 18, 2015
    FULLY FUNDED

    Erla's treatment was fully funded.

  • January 18, 2016
    TREATMENT OCCURRED

    Erla received treatment at Hospital Bernard Mevs in Haiti. Medical partners often provide care to patients accepted by Watsi before those patients are fully funded, operating under the guarantee that the cost of care will be paid for by donors.

  • April 21, 2016
    TREATMENT UPDATE

    Erla's treatment was successful. Read the update

Funded by 31 donors

Meet another patient you can support

100% of your donation funds life-changing surgery.

Hser is a 43-year-old woman from Burma. She lives with her two daughters and her husband in a refugee camp in Umphang District, Tak Province, Thailand. Her family is originally from Karen State, Burma, but fled to the camp due to the fighting in their homeland. In the camp, her older daughter is a teacher while her younger daughter is a student. Her husband sometimes works as agriculture day laborer outside of the camp, while she is a homemaker. In October 2025, Hser started to notice a mass on her left breast. The mass was very small, so she thought it might go away by itself. But a few weeks later, the mass was still there, prompting her to go to the clinic in the camp. She was referred to a bigger hospital, where doctors informed her she may have cancer and would need surgery to prevent the cancer from spreading. However, she did not have the financial resources to undergo surgery. In August 2026, the mass started to grow bigger and cause her pain. She visited our medical partner's care center, Mae Sot General Hospital, where doctors informed her she needs to undergo a mastectomy, surgery to remove her breast. Fortunately, our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, can help. On September 1st, Hser will undergo surgery, and she needs help raising $1,500 to help cover the cost of her procedure and care. Hser said, "When I learned that I have cancer, I started to worry - and even though I receive surgery, will I recover from it? When it started to be painful, I thought I would need surgery so that it wouldn't be painful anymore. When I heard from my daughter that there is an organization that could support me with surgery costs, I feel a bit better. If not for the support from donors, I would give up on surgery and choose to suffer, as I know my family could not afford it."

$1,018raised
$482to go