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NAY HTET AUNG 9 Months Old

Nay Htet Aung is 9 months old and has already survived longer than anyone initially predicted. Unfortunately, this does not mean that he will survive indefinitely. Two days after Nay Htet Aung was born his mother realised that he was not passing any stool. She went to a traditional birth attendant who performed a small procedure but this did not work. After about 15 days Nay Htet Aung started to pass stool out of his penis. His mother said that he is in immense pain when he needs to pass stool, but she does not have any medicine for the pain; he cries a lot and it is worse when he is constipated.

Soe Soe, his mother is only 19 years old, her husband died when Nay Htet Aung was only 1 month old, leaving her a single mother. Soe Soe said that her husband had abdominal pain for some time and died, although she does not know exactly what happened. She lived in Ah Phoung, a town in Burma, but moved to Mae Sot in search of work and now lives with a friend. If she stayed in Burma she would live with her grandmother, but she desperately wants to support herself and her son. It is difficult to earn enough to feed herself and her son and she helps her friend cook and clean in return for staying with her.

The birth attendant Soe Soe first visited in Burma told her that her son would die within a couple of months if she could not get any treatment. She could not afford to go to the hospital so she waited with her son thinking that he would die, but he is still fighting.

Soe Soe eventually heard about Mae Tao Clinic and brought her son there when he was 8 months old. Nay Htet Aung was diagnosed with imperforated anus and rectal penis fistula. He needs surgery to correct these congenital defects, but his mother can barely afford to feed them; travel to Chiang Mai where the surgery would have to be performed, and the surgery costs are well beyond her means. If Nay Htet Aung does not get the corrective surgery he needs, he will continue to live in immense pain until he eventually dies. His mother cannot accept that this is the future for her son, and is desperate for a donor to be found for his surgery.

Rotary Fund have kindly agreed to sponsor Nay Htet Aung’s surgery

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