Can you help CURE Cissy?

Great news! Cissy has received a life-saving operation at CURE Uganda!

Eight month old Cissy came to CURE last week, suffering acute water on the brain (also known as hydrocephalus). Left untreated, Cissy’s head would have enlarged further as more fluid built up around her brain. Her fever was intense and she was in a lot of pain. Without surgery, Cissy’s illness would probably have resulted in death.

Thanks to the generosity of CURE supporters and CURE Uganda surgeons, Cissy has received the care she needs to save her from this illness.

Cissy’s family is very poor and was unable to cover the cost of treatment.

It is not too late to donate to help this beautiful little girl. Now in recuperation, CURE doctors will continue to check-up on Cissy’s progress and provide all the follow-up care she needs in order to make a full recovery.

It cost in total £1,400 for Cissy’s life-saving operation and future follow-up care. Any contribution, no matter what size, will help hugely. It will literally change her life.

Click here to donate today

Cissy before surgery

Waiting for an operation at CURE

We promise to update this page with more news of Cissy as we follow her recovery. Thank you for giving Cissy a future.

Last Sunday, a team of CURE Super Heroes took to London’s Regents Park and ran so children can walk!

The CURE team, which included several surgeons and paediatricians, ran 5 or 10 K whilst dressed up as Super Heroes. Together they have raised over £2,600 to provide operations for children with disabilities in the developing world. More children can now have their lives changed through surgery, enabling some to walk for the very first time in their lives. Thank you all for taking on this challenge on behalf of these children!

After receiving life-saving neurosurgery yesterday morning, one-year old Roona is doing well.

Hydrocephalus (‘water on the brain’) caused Roona’s head to expand to 37 inches, three times its normal size. After terrific response from people throughout the world, Roona was admitted to a first-world Indian hospital. Doctors began to drain the fluid in Roona’s skull last week and yesterday’s surgery sought to remove the excess skin at the back of her head as her skull shrinks.

Treatment has been going well and Roona’s head has already shrunk by nearly a third, to 29 inches. She is awaiting a further operation next week, when a shunt will be fitted to drain more of the excess fluid.

Roona’s dad earns less than £2 a day and was unable to pay for medical care to save his daughter’s life. Sadly, this is the case for 310,000 families in the developing world, where hydrocephalus is most prevalent.

CURE provides operations for children like Roona, regardless of ability to pay. To find out more about this illness go to uk.cure.org/hydrocephalus/

Thank you to everyone who responded to Roona’s story. Your support is helping CURE save lives.

When Tom was just a few month’s old, he started to get very sick. His eyes were unstable, he could not see and he did not respond to his mother’s voice. Tom’s head expanded in size and he was in a lot of pain.

Very worried about her son, Tom’s mother brought Tom to CURE Uganda. Here she immediately met other mother’s all cradling children suffering as Tom was.

Seeing all these joyful faces brought great comfort to Tom’s mother: she was not alone and there was hope that her baby boy could be healed.

Tom immediately received a life-saving operation at CURE, draining the fluid from his brain and treating the infection. Today Tom is well, happy and enjoying his childhood. Thanks to CURE, Tom has great promise for his future.

Patience is a beautiful, smiley 10-year old. However, if it wasn’t for CURE Uganda, Patience would not have lived passed her first birthday.

10 years ago Patience’s terrified parents arrived at CURE, carrying their tiny baby with a huge head, no idea what was wrong. Thankfully, they had come to the right hospital.

Patience had hydrocephalus, a condition where excessive amounts of fluid in the brain had caused her head to swell.

If the CURE hospital hadn’t been there, she would have probably died. If she had survived, she would have suffered from endless physical and mental problems.

Fortunately, at CURE Patience received the surgical intervention that saved her life.

Patience was one of the first patients to receive a life-changing operation at the CURE Uganda hospital. To date, over 5,000 children have been saved here. All these children are alive today because of the speciality care at CURE Uganda.

Patience is a living example of hope to other parents of children with hydrocephalus: there is a cure and each child has the hope of a full, promising life ahead of them.

Doctors at CURE Uganda have developed a new way to treat babies suffering from hydrocephalus (‘water on the brain’). CURE Uganda treats more infants with this condition than any hospital in the world and American neurosurgeons are flying in to learn how.

Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb reports from Uganda: click here to watch!

Many supporters have asked us for an update on Roona, the little girl in India who has Hydrocephalus. This was fist published in the British newspaper The Sun 

Roona is now in an excellent hospital in New Delhi and her treatment is being paid for by the Fortis Foundation of India.

Roona is being evaluated by a team of multi-disciplinary specialists comprising of Paediatric Neurologists, Psychologists, Cardiologists and Ophthalmologists to check her vital functions.

The child is under strict observation. She has sores at the base of her head, a deep chest infection and an abnormally high Total Leucocyte Count, diminishing her ability to fight infection. In addition, she is severely malnourished.

“While investigations are on, our first priority is to nurse the child to a level where she can tolerate interventions of any kind. This might take a few weeks, before we decide on the future line of treatment, said Dr. Sandeep Vaishya, Additional Director, Neurosurgery, Fortis Memorial Research Institute Gurgaon, the doctor in-charge of her case.”

You can read about her progress on a website that has been set up especially for her www.roonabegum.org.

CURE is not involved in the treatment of this particular child. However, at the CURE hospitals in Uganda and Zambia we regularly see children like Roona, and whose families are unable to pay for their surgery. It is only thanks to the compassion and the generosity of our donors that we are able to save their lives.

If you would like to help save a child just like Roona then we would be so very grateful for your support.

Click here to donate today.

Thank you again for your warm support, it is very much appreciated.

Roona Begum, from north east India, has featured in this week’s newspapers, due to her advanced case of hydrocephalus.

One year old Roona’s head has swollen as a result of a blockage of the fluid in her brain. Because of the lack of affordable healthcare in India, Roona’s father is unable to pay for life-saving surgery.

A medical organisation in India has now stepped in to pay for an operation to try to save Roona. Surgeons are hoping to gradually drain the build-up of fluid in Roona’s skull.

310,000 children are born with hydrocephalus each year in the developing world. For most of these families, medical care to correct this life-threatening condition will be either unavailable or unaffordable.

To help save a child’s life from hydrocephalus, click here to donate.

Click here to find out more about CURE’s work providing life changing operations for children with hydrocephalus. CURE is the global leader in the treatment of hydrocephalus and surgeons at the CURE Hospital in Uganda pioneered a surgical technique that greatly reduces the mortality rate from this condition.

To read more about Roona, click here to go to the article in The Sun.

Roona is now on her way to a hospital in India, where surgeons will work to save her life

Do you want to have fun AND cure a child from their disability? Take part in the Super Hero run and make a real difference to the lives of children with correctable, disabling conditions.

This year CURE aims to heal 20,000 children in the developing world, but we can only do it with your help! Join us on Sunday 19th May to run, jog or walk 5km or 10km through London’s Regents Park.

Registration Fee £25 which includes a FREE Super Hero outfit! Min Sponsorship £100. All funds raised will help provide operations for disabled children in developing countries.

Run so children can walk!

Click here to sign up today! For more info email louise.hopkins@cure.org