On Sunday, April 15th, one of our Ndoto students became ill while she was at church. We thought that she had malaria. However, when she fainted outside the building we rushed her to the hospital. We were blessed to have several visiting missionaries with us at the time, including a pediatrician from our Board of Directors. Over the course of the next two weeks, it became clear that this was no simple illness.

Phanice has a birth defect resulting in an Intraventricular hemorrhage. In short, she had a stroke at church. It just happened to begin bleeding in her brain that morning, though she's had this her whole life. Medical care relieved her symptoms and the bleeding stopped on its own, and the doctors all agreed that she was stable. However, it could start again at any time and when it does, the symptoms - headache, fainting, loss of vision and speech, confusion - would be at least as severe as the first time. She could die from it.

On Tuesday, May 22nd, Ndoto will help Phanice's family solve this issue once and for all. She and her family will travel to Bomet, a couple hours' drive away, to have brain surgery from an American neurosurgeon at Tenwek Missionary Hospital. A generous donor has enabled Ndoto to already cover about $1000 worth of tests and hospital bills, and the surgery will now cost around $1500 more.

It's a blessing that we are able to get such excellent medical care for Phanice at such a discount, but she needs your help. Her life depends on this surgery and we're looking for your support to afford it.