Meet Sunday, a seven-year-old boy from Uganda. “At birth, Sunday’s mother noticed his right scrotum was bigger than the left,” explains our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). “The swelling kept increasing in size and it is now becoming painful.”
Sunday was diagnosed as having a hydrocele. A hydrocele forms when a sac in the scrotum fills with fluid. This is due to abdominal fluid seeping through an incomplete closure where the testes descended during infancy. “The swelling is increasing in size and it is now becoming painful,” adds AMHF.
Sunday’s father has passed away, and his mother works as an hourly laborer to support her son. Her income is not enough to be able to afford treatment he needs. “This condition makes my son feel very uncomfortable. Most of the time he isolates himself from fellow children,” she says. For this reason, he is also not attending school.
$215 will allow Sunday to undergo hydrocele repair surgery. The surgeon will drain the fluid from the sac and suture the incomplete closure between the abdomen and scrotum. The cost of treatment also covers the necessary antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication for after the surgery.
AMHF shares: “After surgery, Sunday will no longer be at risk of pain and discomfort. He will be able to join school without any fear of stigmatization.”