Some more detail on the 3 kids

We bought 3 kids back from the Dang area for further specialist care in Kathmandu and Dhulikhel. The 3 kids all came on the 17 hour bus trip with their fathers in the hope of getting treatment. None of them (including their fathers) had ever left the Dang area, so the trip to Kathmandu must have been a huge adventure.

Om and Kamila on the bus and ready to go

The first kid was Om Achvaya who is 8. He was born with a condition where he cannot open his eyes fully, and has poor eyesight. He was having trouble at school due to not being able to see the work very well. On arrivial to Kathmandu he was taken to see one of the top eye surgeons in Nepal. He was told some good news and bad news. The good news it that he will receive corrective surgery and a full recovery is expected but the bad news it that he must wait until he is 12 for his muscles to develop. His father is worried that we will forget about him in the next four years and took some reassuring that we wouldn't. The surgeon has promised to perform the operation free of cost when he returns.

Om and his father enjoying a fanta on the Bus journey

Eye check at the Reiyukai Masunga Eye hospital

Our second patient was Dilmaya Budha Thoki, who is 17 years old. She was born with a cateract and received surgery when she was an infant. Unfortunatly the surgeon at the time damaged the cornea of her eye, resulting in blindness of the eye. She came on the 17 hour bus trip only to be told that the surgery is high risk and will only give a 10 percent improvment to her eyesight. We just can`t justify this operation and she had to go home. We gave her a pair of sunglasses, but it felt like little consolation.

A close up showing the damage to Dilmaya's eye 

Both Om and Dilmaya and their parents returned home to Dang on the overnight bus the day they arrived. Literaly we got back at 1am from Dang. In the morning we visited the Eye Hospital and consulted the doctors. As nothing further could be done at the moment for Om, and Dilmaya also had disappointing news they had no reason to stay. To stay in Kathmandu costs money they don't have, and they were worried about getting lost in the big city. We dropped them back at kathmandu bus station to catch the overnight bus home in the afternoon, after a quick visit to Pashupati Temple (the most sacred Hindu Temple in Nepal).

The third patient is Kamila Shrestha. She is 14 with a large cyst in her abdomenon. Her family took her to the local hospital but the tests were expensive and they couldn`t afford the operation so after spending around $300 on tests they took her home. Our doctors immediatly identified the cyst as life threatening and recommended emergency surgery. As we were on the last day of camp we decided that the best course of action would be to take her back to Dhulikhel hospital. The operation happened the day after we arrived and the cyst was found to be 25cm long. Doctors usually operate when a cyst reaches 4 to 5 cm in length. The operation was a success and Kamila is now recovering at Hospital.