Help 9 year old Kishanu get a liver transplant

Kishanu is a 9 year old girl with a severely impaired liver. Doctors have identified that the long term and irreversible damage - cirrhosis of the liver in medical terms - is due to an inherited metabolic disease. In the recent past her condition has worsened requiring repeated hospital admissions.

The liver transplant unit at the Colombo North Teaching Hospital (CNTH), Sri Lanka recommends a liver transplant surgery for Kishanu. This is a lifesaving surgery and her only option for a permanent recovery. Her mother has been identified as potential donor. Kishanu is now admitted at the CNTH in preparation for the surgery scheduled for early July.

Kishanu's is a lower-income family from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Her father is a construction worker who makes Rs. 1000-1500 a day ($6). Her mother is with her at the hospital. Kishanu's brother is fifteen years old.

The CNTH where the surgery will take place is 300 kilometres south of Kishanu's home. While the surgery itself is free-of-charge, there are significant pre and post-surgery expenses. She needs to undergo several investigations in the private sector. Kishanu will require expensive medication as she recovers from the surgery. Her family would require long term accommodation near the CNTH in Ragama post-surgery for monitoring and therapy. The family will have to travel between Jaffna and Ragama frequently. All of this is beyond Kishanu's family's means and her family has already incurred debt in fulfilling Kishanu's medical needs.

Kishanu is a beautiful, courageous, and intelligent girl. She has faced her struggles with a smile and is hopeful of a better, brighter future. You can help her get a shot at a fulfilling life free of a life threatening condition. The funds raised in this campaign will go towards meeting the needs mentioned above.

#EveryLittleCounts

This campaign is managed by:

Dr. Arunath Visvalingam (Registrar Paediatrics, Colombo North Teaching Hospital)

Dr. Thabitha Hoole (Registrar Paediatrics, Colombo North Teaching Hospital)

Dr. Paul Bright (Medical Officer, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children)

. . . on behalf of Kishanu’s parents.

If any of you have issues with card transactions (especially Sri Lankans), please contact us at [email protected]

[We have created a joint local (LKA) bank account managed by the three of us specifically for this fundraise. If you would rather a direct bank transfer to this account kindly email [email protected] for details.]

[Validation of Kishanu's illness by senior doctors at the CNTH and their endorsment for fundraising to support Kishanu can be accessed as scanned letters]