Shaw Lamon Su Nor
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Shaw Lamon Su Nor is from Kachin State in Burma. His mother says that when the child was one year old he fell off the bed. Three days after falling she noticed swelling in his leg. She brought him to a hospital where they did an x-ray on his leg. The doctor informed them that the bone was fractured. He told them that it would cost 30,000 kyat (US$30) to fix the bone, at the time the family did not have enough money to pay this. They returned home without the child receiving treatment. A friend told her to bring the child to the local Chinese monastery. She brought him there and they did acupuncture on the child and gave him some traditional medicine. Eight days later the child got worse and they returned to the hospital. Shaw Lamon Su Nor had to stay in the hospital for one year. He had many operations to remove the bones in his leg. When he was finished they had to put a plaster cast on his leg that he had to keep on for 3 years. They returned every month to the hospital to have the plaster changed. This treatment cost the family 50,000 kyat (US$50) in total and they used all the money they had to pay for this.
One year after they had removed the plaster cast, the child’s leg bent and he could not walk properly. The family returned to the hospital where the doctor told them they would need to save money for another operation. They returned home and Shaw Lamon Su Nor’s mother got 2 jobs, one selling food and the other selling flowers. In 2004, Shaw Lamon Su Nor’s father died of bone cancer. His mother continued to work and save up for her son’s operation. In 2006, their house was robbed and she was robbed of all her savings and most of their belongings. She went to the police many times but they offered her no help. She sold her house and land to get money for his operation but she did not have enough.
Eventually, she joined the Church of the Assemblies of God. She stayed with them for three years and they helped her. They fed the family and sent the children to school. The church organized donations for her to come to the Thai-Burma border to try and get to the camps or Mae Tao Clinic. She left her home on the 24/7/09 and traveled with her children for one week to get to Thailand. It cost them 100,000 kyat (US$100) to get here.
Shaw Lamon Su Nor’s mother is visibly shaken and saddened by her experience, she has tried all she can to get her son help and Mae Tao Clinic and the Burma Children Medical Fund are her last hope. She does not know where she will live or what the future holds for her family. She wants to get to the refugee camps so her children can continue their education and she hopes her child gets better.
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