Hi my name is Joep (52 yrs) I am a widower (since 14 years) and with my kids Noah, Marije and Jesse, we are asking you to:

Help our beloved Christine (left in the picture) - who has helped me take care and raise my kids (!) for the last 8 years - as she collapsed on Wednesday form an apparent stroke, and required urgent endovascular surgery!

At 45 yrs young, and otherwise a healthy woman - with no husband and no children - it's a blessing that she collapsed in our house, rather than alone at home!

She has a huge heart for others, incl. my children! She is part of our family, the ‘village’ that helped me (as widower) to raise my kids (who are now teen agers). So we love Christine and believe 100% that she deserves to live!

She was still talking and able to move her limbs - but had severe pain in her head and cramped neck - as we rushed her to Columbia Clinic in Parklands. There a black & white CT-Scan revealed an aneurysm in her brain; so we were referred to the emergencies at Aga Khan University Hospital (300m down the road) to get another contrast CT-scan; this now confirmed there had already been a substantial bleeding (stage 4) in her brain – which explains the stroke she was undergoing; indeed she required urgent surgery!

NB only 40% of people with such a stroke make it to hospital. And yet she was still able to speak and think clearly – and with this she had been lucky and showed incredibly resilience. But she was still in grave danger and the bleed in her head, had to be stopped!

Now we happened to be in probably the best Hospital in East-Africa, with an excellent neuro-surgical department, so moving her elsewhere would not have made sense and probably cost her life. The attending neuro-surgeon explained that the best (or only?) way to safe her was to do endovascular brain surgery. This was scheduled for the next morning.

Whilst I paid a deposit of KES 400k (3,050 Usd equivalent) to get her admitted, and estimate for the cost of the operation was never discussed, nor the fact that she would have to stay for another 12-14 days in a High Dependency Unit!

HAPPY TO REPORT THE SURGERY WAS A SUCCESS - AND CHRISTINE IS DOING VERY WELL! Though there is still a lot of blood in her brain, that her body needs to clear out, SHE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY!

But as she did not have private health insurance – and her general NHIS (public) insurance which we were paying for her, does not cater for such a complicated/specialized procedure – we have to settle a HUGE bill, before she can be discharged in a week or two!

We were referred from Columbia Clinic to Aga Khan for their excellent neurosurgery department, and there she had an endovascular procedure (embolization of that vessel at the interhemispheric fissure). The surgery was successful, but the cost much higher than in our wildest imagination: 14,000 Usd

And it was only after the operation that we were informed that she would have to stay for another 12 days (!) in a High Dependency Unit (HDU); As the blood is still in her brain, and she needs to be monitored closely. The cost in this department is about 1000 USD a day, with the medication and specialists.

At this rate the total bill will be close to 26,000 USD

I usually pay medical care (mostly out-patient bills) for my staff, but this is next level {and even the health coverage I have for staff in my office would not nearly cover this!}

There's no way I can afford this, and though her family will try to raise some funds in their extended family I am not sure how much they will be able to contribute {they are also facing another medical emergency with their dad who is on cancer treatment) .

So please help us raise some 22,000 USD (or 20,000 Euro) to make this burden go away, after a life saving operation!

NB. This is a good social investment with an already guaranteed return! Christine is still young and may live to be a 100! So you ‘ll have plenty of time to come and visit here in Kenya! Karibuni!

We (and she) will be immensely grateful for your help!