Joy and Bwine are a humble couple that loves their son Mathew Ayebare (Pictured) deeply and have done their best to take care of him.  Mathew is a little over two years old and has been in and out of hospital since he was a year old.

Joy noticed that Mathew at nine months did not seem to respond or behave like her other two children. However, she did not read too much into it at the time. When he made a year, Mathew started getting seizures. When he was taken to hospital, they were told he had epilepsy and he was started on treatment.  But the seizures did not stop.

The anxious young parents took Mathew back to hospital where he had a CT scan that revealed bleeding in his brain. This is when they learned that their son had a very complex and rare congenital defect known as arteriovenous malformation. An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is when there is abnormal connectivity between arteries and veins.

www.brain-aneurysm.com says that most brain AVMs present with a brain hemorrhage (severe headache, nausea, vomiting, and collapse/loss of consciousness). Instant death rate is believed to be at about 10% for first-time hemorrhages from a brain AVM, and this is about the same as the instant mortality rate for first-time brain aneurysm ruptures. Many AVMs present with seizures, and some present with neurological symptoms (paralysis or sensory disturbance) due to the mass of the blood vessel tangle causing direct compression of brain tissue.

Joy and Bwine desperately needed a “miracle” for their son.  They were referred to Dr. Hussein Ssenyonjo who agreed to perform the operation. However, it would be a very complex operation with a long stay in Intensive Care after the operation. The family could not raise money to have the surgery done and; so, they approached Hope Ward at International Hospital Kampala.

Hope Ward is a charity ward at the International Hospital Kampala that partners with various companies, organizations and individuals to provide complex medical treatment for the very needy in Uganda. Sponsors include Bead for Life, Muvule Trust, Stanbic Bank, MTN, Narrow Road, Hwan Sung, Suubi Trust, Bless a Child Foundation, IAA Health Care and the International Hospital Kampala (IHK).

Mathew was admitted to Hope Ward and had a successful surgery at IHK. His family was only asked to contribute Shs 2m out of a total of Shs 6.2m.  The International Hospital covered 30% of the  bill and does the same for all Hope Ward patients. The balance was covered by donations from Hope Ward supporters. Dr. Ssenyonjo waived his fee and his only concern was saving Mathew’s life.

Before surgery, Mathew had a 10% chance of living but his future is much brighter now.

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Half way through our time now so back to Kampala for debrief.
We prepared a list of areas we need to change to achieve our aims. Some require lots of investment and a discussion as to whether its reasonable to provide the service or not. Some are smaller and relate to training, decor of the centre,use of space, HR issues etc.
Very positive discussions all day. We have a really good team at IHK to support us. Kevin (the CEO) and Dr Andrew started us off in the morning with positive support for our big ideas. Some will require investment from Fields of Life, and hopefully they will agree as they too want affordable care at HC4 level.

Health Centre Level four
Population served 50,000-100,000
The average district has 4-7 level four facilities
In addition to services provided at level three there will be a working operating theatre with twenty four hour C section capability for emergency Caesars.*
Ultrasound should be available with a qualified technician*
Maternal waiting homes are found at this level in some countries and patients may be fed from hospital kitchens. In Uganda the guardian system is operated and relatives have to feed the patients.
Outreach activities by other agencies are often available at these facilities such as tubal ligations by MSI and VVF camps by AMREF.*
Other expected services at level fours:
• Basic dentistry by dental technicians
• DOTS for TB and HAART programmes for HIV*
• Laboratory facilities with a lab technician
• Pharmacy and supply chain to distribute pharmaceuticals and supplies to level three and level two health centers
Staff at level four:
• Qualified doctor in Uganda or in other countries specialist clinical officers
• Clinical officers
• Nurse anaesthetist*
• Midwives
• Nurses
• Laboratory staff
• Pharmacist*
• Nursing aids
An ambulance should be available for referring patients to the district hospital.*

We would really be the only HC4 in Lira municipality(population in the district is 750,000!).There is a referral government hospital but it is overwhemed and serves a population of about 2 million with only 254 beds and skeleton staffing. Other smaller NGO and private health centres but a major problem is staffing and keeping good people, especially doctors and sadly the turnover and often the lack of doctors limits the health service ‘up country’. We will plan to rotate doctors to Lira from Kampala and incentivise them to stay

So, as a result of our discussions, we have ironed the more straight forward issues and agreed that with the Fields of Life support we will provide all the services on this list. Some like our dental services, we can move forward now and some like the Theatre and surgery will take longer. Not too long though, as building in Uganda happens very quickly….planning permission etc what’s that?

Back to Lira today and start to plan the outreach services and o some training.

Your support is making such a difference.

Dr. Helena and the Oncology Nursing team Aisha, Joshi, Irene and Maria wish to thank all of our sponsors for their generosity and help. Quite simply each gift means life or a better quality of life for each cancer sufferer and helps to relieve, often immeasurable, suffering.

Thank you also to all those who partner with us and facilitate each person’s care. Rapid appropriate referrals have and will continue to save lives.

• Hospice Africa, who do a great job in finding desperate patients who need oncology support – we currently have 7 patients referred on treatment
• Bless a Child Foundation who partner with us at every level of cancer prevention, treatment and palliative support
• Softpower Jinja who kindly assist with treatment and transport – for 3 children at present
• Corsu – for additional  surgical support
• Dr. Richard Bogle for his generous gifts of support
• Sean Clarke and his customers at Kuvuka Cafe.

We set ourselves a target to raise £25,000 in 2010; to date our total raised is £7,796, which is a great start but we have some way to go… please help, you can give online now by clicking here.

Faith 12 yrs, when she first arrived at Hope Ward Cancer Clinic in July 2009:

We hardly had a smile from Faith for many weeks when she first started chemotherapy for Hodgkins lymphoma. Her father was in despair as Faith was teased and left out by her friends from school. Many thought she was ‘cursed’ and would be afraid to go near her or touch her. Faith is currently doing well on chemotherapy, as you can see in the photo below.

At Hope Ward Cancer Clinic, we consider holistic care extremely important. We have linked up with several volunteers who will also help us with the task of helping these children smile again and rebuild their lives, despite the tough treatment.

Fiona volunteers herself as ’Auntie’ to the children and has just brought in a box of toys, which is why the kids are grinning!

We also wish to acknowledge NGO Softpower Jinja who initially brought Faith and support 70% of her treatment.

We are very pleased to announce the receipt of a further £6,000 from Trade Aid UK to help support our Health Centre in Pader, Northern Uganda, which has treated, free of charge, 1,652 patients since last October (as at mid-May).

Click here to read more about Trade Aid UK.

Trade Aid UK supports the Pader Clinic

Trade Aid UK has donated £6,000 to support the Pader Clinic.

Trade Aid UK seeks to help eliminate the effects of world poverty through sustainable commercial trade.  By providing a top quality sugar product, it aims to give consumers a new choice for this most basic of commodities. At the same time, customers can be confident that they are making a real difference. As an alternative supplier of household sugars, profits generated are donated to help people who are deprived of the basic necessities of life, such as water, food, healthcare and housing.

Suubi Trust is extremely grateful for Trade Aid’s support which they have indicated will be ongoing.  You will find their sugar in Tesco Stores.  Buy it and spread the word and we can reap the benefits!  Visit the Trade Aid website at http://www.tradeaiduk.com/.

It costs about £5 to treat each patient and the running costs for the clinic total £27,500 per annum.

At the weekend Simon received confirmation that Trade Aid UK has agreed to give £6,000 and he received a further £3,000 from other supporters.

Simon has written a short introduction to our work in Pader, which you can download by clicking here.

In November and December Hope Ward received 46 patients. The bed-night occupancy was 388 nights and the total cost for this was almost £17,000.

About 55% of these costs were met by various Hope Ward sponsors, the balance being met by Dr. Ian Clarke and International Hospital Kampala.

Suubi Trust is proud to be a key sponsor and raised just over £3,850 during that period.

Other sponsors included:

• Dominic Bagenda and his colleagues in Japan, who gave £1,350
• Bead for Life sponsored 41 bed-nights (a bed night costs on average £27)
• Muvule Trust sponsored 60 bed-nights
• Stanbic Bank sponsored 30 bed-nights.

Consultant surgeon Dr. Moses and Dr. Hussein performed a number of operations free of charge.

In December we also received a kind donation of high quality wheelchairs from the Kampala Rotary Club given at a highly subsidised price.

You can read about the work at Hope Ward by clicking here…

£23,340.

On behalf of my fellow trustees I want to pass on our thanks to all and simply say that we are overwhelmed by such generosity.

We know that this will make a huge difference in the lives of many, many people.

Read more about fund raising on our website…

Kevin.

These gifts come in the same week as we received the following update about the work in Lira…

There is a very high incidence of Malaria and Typhoid in this district. Both of these infectious diseases thrive in areas where people live in crowded conditions, and the incidence of both can be reduced by simple education and sleeping under mosquito nets.

These diseases have a major impact on children, not only in terms of mortality, but also adversely affecting their development by causing them to miss school.
There have been 20 Charity patients recently treated for these conditions at the Lira clinic from the primary school alone, where the boarders are especially vulnerable.

Several children and their teachers wanted to share their stories:

Bob Yapi, Teacher in Charge of the school said

“The clinic has reduced the drop out rate and absenteeism at the school and I would like to thank all the sponsors.”

Emmanuel Okello, age 7, Primary 1:

He used to end up being admitted to Hospital and put on a drip but since he has been receiving help at the Lira Charity Clinic he hasn’t had any admissions.  He now takes the correct medication and sleeps under a net.  Emmanuel is poor and unable to afford correct medication; subsidised drugs from the charity clinic means he can get good medication, avoid admission for an iv drip – which means no absence from school.

Sarah Akoko age 12, Primary 7:

Used to get Malaria and Typhoid regularly but since coming to the Lira charity clinic for treatment, 3 months ago , she has had been healthy.

Lira pupils helped by funds raised at St. Peter's Methodist Primary School

Rita Ayugi age 10, Primary 5:

Has been suffering from regular bouts of Malaria. Since attending the Lira clinic she has had no further episodes and is much more active and alert in class and now takes part in extra- curricular activities.

Anna Adul, her teacher says

“I, and the school at large, have appreciated the effort you, the sponsors, have made in the school and hope you can continue with that spirit of good health for the children.

One of the nurses went to the school to talk about Malaria and Typhoid and to sensitise and educate the children and teachers on how to avoid these common diseases. Since the start of the clinic there has been a reduction in the incidence of these diseases in the school.”

Rita and her teacher Anna