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Emo - 12 years old

Big abscess between the eye

A lively girl, with a beautiful smile, that’s how I would describe Emo when she came to Mae Tao Clinic with her mother, Daw Thein Hla Haing, to see if we could help her. Six years before that an 8 hour journey to the nearest hospital in Burma proved fruitless when the doctors were unable to offer any kind of treatment for her unsightly congenital growth on her nose. They told Daw Thein Hla Haing to go to a different hospital, but they didn’t have any money to pay for the ride, let alone to pay for surgery. Now, 6 years later, she has brought her daughter to Mae Tao Clinic, at the suggestion of another daughter who lives in Mae Sot. They traveled for 3 days in a friend’s car from a small city in Burma in the hope of some kind of treatment they could afford.

Thanks to our donors, CMF was able to send Emo to Chiang Mai to get surgery in October 2007. They had to wait 3 months in Chiang Mai before she received surgery. T Daw Thein Hla Haing joined her to Chiang Mai to support her. Right after the surgery Daw Thein Hla Haing was very concerned because Emo was very drowsy and didn’t respond well, but she didn’t realize this was because of the anesthetics. 

Soon after surgery it became clear that the growth infected her optical nerves. For the first two weeks Emo was completely blind and she is slowly improving. She is now blind in her left eye and her right eye isn’t working properly as well. Right now she can only see up close and distinguish a few colors. Her mother needs to stimulate Emo to focus and train her eye, so Emo will have enough vision to take care of herself in the future.
Although this concerns Daw Thein Hla Haing a lot, she is very happy as well. Before the surgery a lot of people made fun of Emo, insulting her and even telling her that she should be put away. Right now she can only see up close and distinguish a few colors. Emo said she felt very sad that her peers always pushed her away in games and she felt really lonely. Now people tell her she is beautiful! 

Emo and Daw Thein Hla Haing pray  together every day for the donor, for Kanchana and all the other people that helped Emo, to have a healthy, happy and successful life. 

In January Emo and Daw Thein Hla Haing have to go back to Chiang Mai for a follow-up. In the meantime they both stay at Mae Tao Clinic because their village in deep inside Burma and they don’t have the money to back and forth. Mid January they will finally be able to go home again. Emo and T Daw Thein really miss their family because they haven’t seen them for a total of 9 months now. Emo can’t wait to show her family how beautiful she has become!