Edith is a 43-year-old single mother living in rural Kisoro Uganda. 6 years ago, Edith suffered a major stroke leaving her with arm and leg weakness. After her stroke, she developed terrible shortness of breath and cough and was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease. At this time, Edith became unable to farm, her only way to generate income to support herself and her 4 children. She and her children got by on the kindness of small food and money donations from neighbors in her village. Now, Edith needs a life-saving cardiac surgery to correct the defect in her heart that prohibits her from working to support her family.

The surgery and medical care which would fix her heart costs $6,000 USD. If the defect is not fixed, she will likely die within the next year, leaving her 4 children with no parent to support them. As a farmer, Edith is only able to make $1 a day - meaning she would need to spend 16 years of earnings on this surgery. Together with Edith and the members of her village, we are raising money to support her surgery.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Zucker School of Medicine, and the Montefiore department of general internal medicine have been working with Kisoro District Hospital, a Ugandan government district hospital in rural Uganda since 2006. During that time period, dozens of children and adults with heart defects have been diagnosed and surgically treated, most of whom are living better lives today because of what we and conscientious others have done.

Funding can be done through Go Fund Me or Venmo with title Edith's Surgery