Support Pan Salei's Urgent Medical Care from Stroke

$1 MATCH FOR EACH $1 DONATED

Keep prayers coming. Salei has 3 children and a husband, aunts, uncles, mother and many people who love her. She just lost her father this past year. The physicians are still unsure what has caused these strokes. This means more testing and of course increased hospital bills. Cambodia doesn't have organized healthcare and insurance as we do here in the US. She's getting the best care that can be afforded. I'll match $1 for $1 up to $5000. I'm moving to Cambodia in February and I'll be helping caring for her. Every bit helps. Thank you for your love, prayers and support.❤️

My name is Gigi Waters. I am writing on behalf of my brother Ray and Bunthoeun and the rest of our Cambodian family as we are, for the second time in four years, doing everything we can to support Lei’s medical care and recovery from two subsequent strokes suffered just before the New Year. Medical insurance does not exist in Cambodia, and care is provided only after funds have been deposited with the hospital.

(Ray, Bunthoeun, Gigi, Lei and Dalen) last year at Kulen Mountain)

Last Saturday, December 28th, at 2:30 in the morning, our Cambodian sister, Pan Salei, woke up with a severe headache and was vomiting. Ray, who lives with the family in Cambodia on a farm within the Angkor Wat Archeology Park, was woken up by Bunthoeun, Lei’s husband, and was told they were heading for the hospital. Many who read this may recall that Lei suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in the left side of her brain in 2020, from which she made, after brain surgery and years of work and rehabilitation, a remarkable recovery. But the fear of a recurrence has always been there.

Lei was driven to the Siem Reap Regional Hospital, and after a CT scan, was found to have suffered a blockage of a vein in the right side of the brain (thromboembolism). She had been admitted to the general ward for observation, but details of her medical care were incomplete except to say that Lei’s headache had subsided and that she was resting comfortably. Ray went to the hospital and found Lei in a 50-bed ward. Her IV had been inadvertently pulled from her arm two hours earlier, leaving a puddle of blood on the floor, and had not been reestablished. Ray and Bunthoeun met with the only doctor on duty. The doctor could not answer what medication had been given, but only said that another CT scan would be done the next morning. Ray, a former medic, checked Lei and found her to be not sleeping comfortably but in a coma.

(Blurred photo of Bunthoeun in the ward at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital on December 28th)

The decision was made immediately by Bunthoeun to drive Lei in his car 7 hours to the hospital in Phnom Penh, 300 km away. Their daughter Dalen and an uncle accompanied them. She arrived comatose at the Sunrise Japanese Hospital about 8 in the morning, 30 hours after the stroke had occurred. The Sunrise Japanese Hospital is where Lei had surgery and was treated for the earlier stroke.

The Sunrise Hospital immediately went to work, administered anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory medication, conducted MRI and MRA studies, and extensive and comprehensive lab work. Approximately 24 hours later, Lei regained consciousness, but overnight suffered another stroke in the right temporal lobe region, though not severe. More studies have been and are continuously being conducted with daily MRIs to monitor for any further infarctions and brain swelling. The underlying cause for these strokes has not yet been established.

Ray took an overnight bus on the 31st to see Lei and Bunthoeun and to meet with the doctor managing Lei’s care. (Bunthoeun has been sleeping in the car in the hospital parking lot every night.) Ray also met with the accounting office to go over expenses, and to pay bills and deposits, and to look at anticipated expenses in the upcoming days and weeks.

(Lei in ICU at the Sunrise Japanese Hospital in Phnom Penh on December 31st)

Many of you know I've been a registered nurse for 40 + years. As an Air Force nurse, I worked in critical care and trauma which included brain injury. I have extensive experience in care for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients and have cared for patients in long term brain injury rehabilitation . I will be traveling to Cambodia in February or March and assist and monitor Lei’s condition once she is home.

MRI Study of Lei’s brain.

As of January 1st, Lei is able to speak coherently and again recognizes Bunthoeun and Ray and their daughter Dalin, who is attending university in Phnom Penh and has been selected to pursue further studies in Japan under a partial scholarship in pursuit of becoming an MD. At this stage, a comprehensive evaluation of Lei’s motor and cognitive functions has not been made, and she still remains in ICU. Lei’s response to the anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory medication has been excellent considering the time it took to get her to the Sunrise Hospital from her initial symptoms.

Dalin will be looking after her mother for the next few days as Bunthoeun and Ray returned yesterday to Siem Reap as Bunthoeun needed to return to work. Bunthoeun wull go back and forth from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh as necessary until Lei is discharged, a date too early to know at this stage.

(Lei, her children Dalen, Dalin and Panha, and her husband Bunthoeun at Dalin’s celebration in Phnom Penh last month for being chosen to study in Japan as one of Cambodia’s top students)

Ray will be traveling to Phnom Penh as might be necessary to handle the financial matters and assist on the farm when Bunthoeun is away.