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Voices from the Field: One Birthday Wish Granting Wishes for Many

March 18, 2011 - India

by Jaimie Shaff

For the friends and family who know me best, it goes without saying that my date of birth is a sore spot for me. Last year, I actually skipped town and went on an AcroYoga retreat out of state!

This year, I’m unbelievably grateful to report I had the best birthday ever, and it’s all because of you (and causes, of course). I began with a goal of raising $1,000 for some of the sweetest kids, and ended up with an astonishing $7,025. The money raised gave us the opportunity to follow up with kids from my “love” list, and saved three lives in the first two weeks. Just like that.

Here’s a little update of what we’ve done so far:

-Gave toys and coloring materials to kids to promote their psychosocial development (and to let them be kids!) on Chinese New Year.

photo: Pankaj and toys

-Found Suriya and Amansingh close to death, and gave them a fighting chance to live. We’ve since uncovered a larger issue, in that the family is using these poor little children to exploit the system, but that’s for another blog.

photo: Amansingh after 2 weeks at the Nutritional Rehab Center

-Provided emergency transportation and support to Rahul, a 2 year old with Tubercular Meningitis, to a prestigious public hospital in Ahmadabad, where he received a life saving shunt to drain fluid from his brain. He’s just returning from his first follow up appointment, and things are looking good, but his condition is far from stable. However, it does look like his sight might be coming back!

-Provided Basanti an operation for her clubfoot through the organization A Leg to Stand On (http://www.altso.org), at Civil Hospital. She’s recovering beautifully from her first operation, with a second operation scheduled for June.

photo: Jaimie and Naiara signing Basanti’s cast
-Transported Ayush (the happiest little guy in the world!) to Ahmadabad to follow up on his brain-shunt and evaluate his physical disabilities.

photo: Naiara and Ayush

-Paid off the loan shark used to pay for Gila’s (rest in peace, little one) expensive private medical procedures, allowing the family to be free from debt in order to raise their new daughter, Anandani, to be healthy and safe. This story deserves justice, a blog to come.

photo: Anandani

-Hired Anandani’s father as our first male CNE to help him avoid migrating for work and leaving his family struggling to survive.

photo: Anandani’s father

-Brought 4 children from the fields to Indore for cleft-palate operations at CHL Apollo through the organization Smile Train. (http://www.smiletrain.org).

photo: Shakuntala before her cleft-palate operation

See Jaimie’s Birthday Wish Causes page here: http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/203560

Special thanks to "A Leg to Stand on" and "Smile Train" for helping make the operations possible.

Thank you everyone for allowing us to do this. The lives of these children will be forever changed thanks to your kindness, compassion, and support. You should just see the smiles.

For more information about RMF’s Programs in India, click here and here

We can use any help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach in the Madhya Pradesh region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org

Categories: India Voices from the Field or View All

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