By Asma Rao | Head of Marketing & Resource Mobilization
The story of Najma is a heart wrenching one; a 26 year old married woman from a village near the city of Sargodha in the Punjab province. For the past two years she has been bed ridden as she was in severe pain due to damaged joints. She had been suffering from joint pains for many years but due to the lack of proper care the situation aggravated to such a degree that couldn’t even walk.
Her husband teaches the Holy Quran in the area and earns a meager 15,000 rupees a month (around 140 US Dollars) and proper medical care was just out of reach. Najma had tried local quacks, healers and anybody who she thought will be the answer to her pain but to no avail.
The ACF funded her right hip replacement last year, after which she was able to walk with some support. Arthritis Care Foundation (ACF) was established in 2001 in collaboration with Fatima Memorial Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan provides Physiotherapy and Diagnostic support to deserving patients.
The ACF than also funded her left hip replacement at a cost PKR 200,000 foundation and today by the grace of God she is able to able without any support and is able to live life to the fullest.
The disease can strike at any time and without proper care can lead to severe disabilities affecting patients for a lifetime. However, today through early diagnosis and extensive treatment rheumatologists can significantly help prevent disability and death in patients suffering from rheumatic diseases.
These stories give us hope and the strength to continue with our mission.
Please donate today and change lives.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
