Recheal is a 20-year-old from Kenya. She is studying in secondary school but has been unable to attend school for the last three months due to her condition. Recheal is the sixth born in a family of eleven children. Her parents are small-scale farmers, growing maize and beans for their family’s home use. Recheal does not have medical coverage, and her parents had to sell cattle and maize to raise Ksh 120,000.00 ($783) to cover her initial surgery costs. Recheal needs to undergo urgent surgery, and her family is requesting financial assistance. Recheal has been diagnosed with an abdominal bile leak that is causing her discomfort and pain. Her doctors have recommended surgery to ease the pain and enable her to resume her studies. She first experienced painful stomach swelling in August 2023. She visited a local health center and was treated for worms, which relieved her of pain for a while, but it recurred with time. She then visited our medical partner’s hospital for review. At the beginning of November, she received a CT scan that showed a liver cyst that required surgery. She underwent a laparotomy to remove the cyst on November 23rd. Four days later, the doctors identified a bile leakage that needed to be rectified. She is now scheduled for emergency surgery on November 28th to fix the fatal condition. African Mission Healthcare (AMH) is requesting $1,074 to fund this surgery. Recheal said, “I have missed school for three months now. This procedure will help ease stomach pain and enable me to return to school.”

Leakhena is a quiet 14-year-old girl from Cambodia. She and her twin brother live with their 65-year-old grandmother in Kampong Cham province. Her brother is learning to be a monk at a local temple, while Leakhena stays home to help their grandmother. At home, Leakhena likes to watch TV. According to her grandmother, Leakhena has had knee stiffness and difficulty walking since she was a toddler and is unable to fully straighten her right knee. When Leakhena's family learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, they traveled for three and a half hours to seek treatment. On February 15th, surgeons at CSC will perform a quadricepsplasty procedure of her right leg to help her walk better. Leakhena needs our help to fund this $482 procedure. She said: "I hope it will be easy to walk and I will not have any pain."

Songheng works in a textile factory and lives with his parents, who are rice farmers, in Kandal province. He has a brother who lives in the family home and a married sister who lives nearby. When not working, Songheng enjoys listening to music with friends. Songheng operates machinery in a textile factory, stitching together fabrics that eventually find their way into clothing sold around the globe. On January 11th, his hand slipped while cutting through a thick piece of fabric with a mechanical saw. The sharp blade tore through his left arm, severing the radial nerves in his wrist. He was taken to a local hospital for surgical repair, but doctors told him they were unable to suture the radial nerves in his hand that are crucial for movement and sensation. Songheng is unable to use his left hand and feels constant burning in his thumb due to the damage to his nerves. He cannot work and is worried that he is unable to contribute to the family finances. Without proper treatment, he might never fully regain function in his hand. The hospital directed him to our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre. Skilled surgeons at CSC have achieved positive results for patients in removing damaged nerve or tendon sections, reconnecting healthy nerve ends, or implanting a piece of nerve/tendon from another part of the body. These procedures can repair the damage, and attempt to restore as much function as possible. With limited finances, Songheng needs help with the $572 cost of the procedure, which will cover medications, surgery, post-operative care, and physiotherapy. His surgery is scheduled for February 16th. Songheng said: "I am hopeful the doctors can fix my hand so I can work again and have no pain."