Burma Children Medical Fund - Our Stories
Aung (Severe injury)
Aung is a 12-year-old boy who suffered severe injuries in a school bus accident near Mae Sot. He lives with his grandmother just outside of Mae Sot and his grandfather works in Bangkok at a restaurant cutting meat and earns about 6,000 Baht ($191.80 USD) a month. His parents are divorced and his father no longer has any contact with the family. His mother and older sister both work in Bangkok at a rug factory. Although his grandfather, mother, and sister all work, his grandp...
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Zin Mar (Deformity)
Zin Mar suffers from a deformity on her left leg. She was born in Kya-inn-Seikgyi Township in the Karen State of Burma. When she was 6 months old, she had a very high fever followed by violent seizures. She was taken to the village clinic and the doctor injected her with medication, which subdued the fever and the seizure. However, one month after the visit to the clinic she had an abscess on her upper left thigh where the doctor gave the injection. The abscess grew to the si...
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Ka Nyaw (Hydrocephalus)
Ka Nyaw is a 1 year-old-baby who came to BCMF suffering from hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is a condition caused by an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull and can lead to convulsions, vision problems and mental disability. If left untreated, hydrocephalus is a fatal condition. Ka Nyaw first showed symptoms of his condition when he was four months old, when his grandmother noticed that his head was swelling and that he was unable to breathe properly thr...
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Ma San (Cervical Polyp)
Ma San is a 47 year-old woman who was referred to BCMF after being diagnosed with a cervical polyp and a fistula. She is living in Ho Fai in the Mae Sot area of Thailand. Her family came here for work 6 months ago and they plan to stay for another three months to save a little money before returning to their home in Burma. She has three children: the oldest daughter is married and moved out last year, the younger daughter is helping the family by doing day labor in the cornfi...
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U Aung (Kidney Stones)
U Aung is a fifty-year-old man who came to BAMF suffering from kidney stones. He and his wife live in Win Kha Na village in Karen State, Burma. They earn their living as farmers, planting and harvesting rubber trees and have 5 children, 4 of which still live at home and help on the family’s farm. He says he never went to school or learned to read and write. When he was 8-years-old, his father passed away and since then he has struggled to earn a living and support his famil...
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Paw (Cardiac)
Paw is a 20 year-old single mother who came to BCMF suffering from a cardiac condition. Currently, she lives with her two year-old daughter and her parents in Noh Poe, a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border in the Tak Province of Thailand. She is originally from the Kawkariek Township of Burma, however 12 years ago her family fled to the border due to the unstable political situation in her village. Fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and Burmese soldi...
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Dar Win (Prolapsed uterus)
Daw Win is a 51 year-old woman from Nidon village in the Mon state in Burma who came to BCMF because of a prolapsed uterus. She divorced her husband 20 years ago and has one son who is 23 and lives in Bangkok working in a factory. She has lived in her village her entire life and went to school until grade 4. She now lives by herself and works as a phone operator, making anywhere between 20,000 kyat ($20.47 USD) and 50,000 kyat ($51.17 USD) per month. Her salary varies so much...
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Kyaw Myo (Cardiac)
Kyaw Myo is a 27 year-old man who has been suffering from cardiac disease since he was a young boy. His biological parents died when he was few months old and he was adopted by a couple with two daughters living in Mawlamyine in Mon State, Burma. When he was 12 years old he became very sick and started experiencing severe fatigue and shortness of breath. His parents took him to Mandalay hospital where he was diagnosed with cardiac disease and told that he needed to have sur...
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Aung Myint (Tumor)
Aung Myint is a 7 year-old boy who came to BCMF after a CT scan revealed that he has a tumor behind his right eye. He and his mother came to BCMF from the village of Nga See Pyai , Kyaikto Township in Mon State, Burma. His father died a few months before he was born following an accident at work when he fell from a cart and was run over. Aung Myint has two older sisters, aged 15 and 13, who attend school and live at a boarding house also in the township of Kyaikto.
While the...
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Ma (Ovarian Cyst)
Ma is a 36 year-old woman who came to BCMF in August 2013 after being diagnosed with an ovarian cyst seven years ago. She has five children, including twins from her third pregnancy. She used to live in Bago Division in Burma, however eight months ago her family moved to a village just outside of Myawaddy in search of better job opportunities. Her husband is a day laborer and earns 3,000 kyat ($3 USD) per day, although his work is inconsistent. Depending on the season, she is...
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