Hello, my name is Mark Bochsler, and I’m a documentary filmmaker fundraising to support medical expenses for martial arts grandmaster San Kim Sean, who lives in Cambodia, and is undergoing life saving cancer treatment.

Grandmaster Sean (78) led the revival of Cambodia’s ancient martial art of Bokator, rescuing it from extinction in the Killing Fields, for all generations to come. I have come to know Grandmaster Sean and his family personally for over a decade now, during the making of my documentary film, Surviving Bokator, the story about Grandmaster's journey to revive Bokator. https://www.facebook.com/bokatorfilm/about_details

A few weeks ago, Grandmaster Sean suddenly had great bowel pain and ceased urinating. He had a high fever, vomiting and uncontrollable chills, and was rushed to emergency in Siem Reap hospital in Cambodia. Doctors gave him a catheter to release the urine, but discovered that a growth on his prostate had created the blockage. A few days later the biopsy tests revealed that he had Stage 4 cancer.

Understandably, this diagnosis has come as a great shock to everyone around him. I saw Grandmaster in May when I was in Cambodia to release our film in the cinemas there. He looked great and I playfully asked him what his secrets to youth were. It’s hard to believe that he had this cancer growing inside of him.

Cambodia, like many developing countries, has very little social net, and so health costs are paid directly by the user. The treatment and surgery that San Kim Sean will require to save his life, are well beyond the means of his family to support. Moreover, these procedures are not available in Cambodia, and require him to go out of country to neighbouring Thailand, which adds transportation, accommodation and food to their expenses.

I am compelled to seek your support through this GoFundMe campaign because San Kim Sean is a man who has spent his life giving. He has always lived ‘hand-to-mouth’ with any additional income being poured back into Bokator. His contribution to the cultural heritage of humanity has been enormous (Bokator was recently placed by UNESCO on their World Intangible Cultural Heritage list), and now is our time to support Grandmaster Sean in his most urgent time of need.