Zak's Story

Zak joined Watsi on July 27th, 2015. Seven years ago, Zak joined our Universal Fund, supporting life-changing treatments for a new Watsi patient every month. Zak's most recent donation traveled 8,800 miles to support Soeun, a grandmother and retired rice farmer from Cambodia, to fund cataract surgery in her left eye.

Impact

Zak has funded healthcare for 88 patients in 12 countries.

patients you have funded

Loy is a 46-year-old small scale farmer and a strong mother to her five children who range from the ages of 21 to 11 years old. Due to difficult finances and lack of resources, all of Loy's children have received a partial primary school education at various levels. Loy and her husband earn their income by farming, and their family lives together in a four-room mud house for shelter. Four months ago, Loy began experiencing severe lower abdominal pains that have caused her many sleepless nights. She believes that her uterus is very weak because she had a number of complicated deliveries when she gave birth to her children. She visited a doctor in March and was given temporary medication to help ease the pain and discomfort. Months later, she can now no longer sleep comfortably, and has had to completely stop farming due to the pain. Loy has been diagnosed with chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and needs to undergo a hysterectomy, the surgical removal of the uterus, in order to treat her condition. Fortunately, on May 13th, Loy will undergo gynecological surgery at our medical partner's care center, Rushoroza Hospital. Once recovered, Loy will be able to resume her daily activities free of pain and continue on with her farming in order to take care of her family. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is requesting $319 to help fund this surgery. Loy says, “I can no longer practice farming in my current condition and my family depends on farming. I hope to get well through surgery so that I may be able once again take better care of my family.”

$319raised
Fully funded

Kwan is a 17-year-old boy who enjoys watching TV and learning Mandarin online during his free time. Although he is originally from Burma, he lives with his parents, two brothers, and both of his grandmothers in a village in Thailand. They moved to Thailand about five years ago in search of safer living conditions. Both of Kwan’s grandmothers are retired, and his father is unable to work due to being ill. His mother and older brother support their family by working as day laborers. Kwan and his younger brother both attend a local migrant school, where Kwan is a 10th grade student. In September of 2017, Kwan broke his left forearm while playing basketball with his friends. He was referred to Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) for financial assistance accessing treatment, and he underwent surgery to insert a steel rod into his left forearm at their medical care center, Mae Sot Hospital (MSH). Following surgery, doctors told Kwan that the steel rod would need to be removed a year after surgery. However, he was not scheduled for an appointment to remove the rod, and he was not told why it needed to be removed. Initially, this did not seem like an issue since Kwan regained movement in his fingers, was able to move his arm more comfortably, and was able to help his mother with household chores. Since he was not in pain and his family did not have enough money to pay for the procedure, Kwan was not brought back to MSH to have the rod removed. However, he began working as an agricultural day laborer in 2020 when his studies were moved online due to the outbreak of COVID-19. He began to experience pain in the area where the rod was located when carrying anything even slightly heavy. Due to financial constraints and a fear of being arrested for traveling to the clinic without documentation because of an increase in main road checkpoints, Kwan kept his pain a secret. However, he eventually sought medical attention at MSH after the pain progressed. There, a doctor confirmed that his arm had healed well and the rod needed to be removed. Fortunately, our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund is helping Kwan receive treatment. On July 27th, doctors will perform rod removal surgery. This procedure will cost $1,500, and Kwan and his family need your support. He mentions that after he recovers from surgery, he wants to find work as a day laborer. He wants to help his family earn more money so his mother no longer has to do hard labor. His mother says, “I don’t know what to say, but in our heart, we are so thankful to the donors for helping Kwan with his first, as well as this second, surgery. We will never forget this help for the rest of our lives.”

$1,500raised
Fully funded

Meshack is a six-year-old boy, living with his mother and one sibling, in a one-roomed grass thatched house in a village in Kenya. Recently, Meshack completed his preschool studies and now he is in grade one. According to his mother, Meshack is very helpful, and always assists her around the farm and in doing household chores. Meshack's mother is a single parent and a farmer, who works hard to provide for her family. Meshack was born with a condition known as hemiplegic CP, which means that one side of his body is weak. His right foot is affected, making walking challenging. Additionally, Meshack was born with clubfoot of his left foot, which adds to his difficulty walking, and limits his ability to wear shoes. Meshack has already undergone some preliminary, preparatory procedures on his left foot during mobile clinic visits near his village and the next step is for him to have clubfoot repair surgery at our medical partner's hospital. Meshack and his mother have now traveled to visit our medical partner's care center, AIC Cure International Hospital. There, surgeons will perform clubfoot repair surgery on May 27th. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is requesting $1,286 to fund Meshack's surgery, which will enable him to walk, to play with his friends, and to continue his education. “I would love to see my son walking like other children, and I will be relieved of the burden of carrying him to school,” Meshack's mother told us.

$1,286raised
Fully funded