Hser_Facial Mass

Myawaddy_BurmaHser is a 1-year-11-month-old boy with a large mass on the right side of his face and neck. His family lives in Hteet Moo Hta village in Myawaddy district. His parents were rice farmers but make their living as day labourers. His mother currently does not work as she is busy caring for him and his younger sister.

Hser’s family has been affected by the military conflict in Burma. For the past three years, his mother reports, the DKBA has come to their village and burned everyone’s rice crop stores. The DKBA did this as punishment. The DKBA claimed that the village was unfairly paying tribute to the KNU and SPDC while not paying anything to the DKBA. As a result of the hardship induced by having their entire crop burned and having to pay money to the various armies, about 35 families in the village, including Hser’s, had to move to a neighbouring village. Continue reading

low platelets_Burma_Chiang Mai

La is an 8-year-old boy suffering from a blood condition. Specifically his blood has a low platelet count (he could be suffering from a condition known as thalassaemia). He is currently in Chiang Mai undergoing treatment. He and his father were transferred directly from a small district hospital on the Thai-Burma border to Chiang Mai. The hospital contacted BCMF to refer La onto our program to ensure his medical costs were covered.
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110224_Eh Ka Lu_M4m_hypospadias

Eh Ka Lu was born at the Mae Tao Clinic in October 2010. His mother didn’t realize that Eh Ka Lu had a medical problem until she took him home. She noticed that he had an abscess near his testes and that his urine seemed to be coming out from everywhere.

Eh Ka Lu’s mother moved to Thailand when she was 16 years old. She was raised by her aunty and had seven siblings. Her aunty told her that her parents died. Five of her siblings have died and just her and her sister are left from their family of nine people. Her older sister lives in Burma with her family. She came to Thailand because people said she would be able to find work and her sister told her to go to Thailand for a better life. Two years after she arrived, she met and married her husband. She has since had four children. Eh Ka Lu is the youngest and the only boy.
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110619_Chor กะชอ_M9_encephalocele

Chor was born with a small mole-sized lump on his face however by the time he reached 9 years of age, this small lump has grown into a large facial deformity. Encephalocele is the most probable diagnosis. This is a congenital defect where the brain membranes protrude through a groove in the skull. Chor’s mother thought that his deformity made him unfit for education but he commenced schooling this year when a local migrant school alerted the family that he was welcome to attend.
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