“I hope to get help for this surgery so that I can go back home and continue living a normal life.”

Dennis, an 18-year-old boy from central Kenya, is the second-born in a family of five children. His parents are small-scale farmers, and since graduating from high school in 2015, he has been working on their small piece of land. He has been searching for more formal employment as well.

Dennis was a healthy teenager until three days ago, when he was hit with sudden bouts of vomiting and severe abdominal pain. His mother brought him to Nazareth Hospital, our medical partner’s care center, because the local public hospital is not operating. There, an abdominal x-ray revealed that Dennis has intestinal obstruction, meaning that the movement of waste through his intestines has been blocked. This is a life-threatening condition; if left untreated, his bowel could rupture, leading to leaking of harmful intestinal content into the abdominal cavity.

Fortunately, Dennis has been scheduled for emergency surgery on September 21. But he needs your help to pay for it. When we raise $750, we will be able to fully cover his operation, as well as his lab tests, medications, and one night’s stay in the hospital.

After his surgery, it is expected that Dennis will be able to go back to farming. He will also be able to continue looking for formal employment to sustain himself. Let’s make sure this young man is able to make the most of his early career by restoring him to good health.