Not far from the border between Nicaragua and Honduras lives Yasser and his family. He is from a little town, 9 hours by bus from Managua, with a population of 8,000 people.

Yasser is six years old, weighs 48 pounds and was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot.

Tetralogy of Fallot is a rare heart defect that occurs in 5 out of every 10,000 babies. 

Circumstances like these would be challenging for any family. Unfortunately, Yasser’s family faces an even greater barrier: living in a remote and poverty-stricken region of Nicaragua where most survive on less than $2 a day.

Yasser’s opportunity:

An important sign of Tetralogy of Fallot is cyanosis, a bluish tint to the skin, lips, and fingernails caused by low levels of oxygen in the blood. When Yasser’s fingertips turned blue, Yasser’s father, a carpenter, decided to make the long trip to the capital to have his six year old son examined by a pediatric cardiologist at La Mascota Hospital, where poor patients are treated for free.

Thanks to the support of Surgeons of Hope, this hospital has excellent equipment. Yasser’s case was serious, the operation was going to be difficult. Pr. Jose Fragata was in Nicaragua earlier this month, leading a mission sponsored by Surgeons of Hope and he decided to operate Yasser on November 2.

The results:

We are proud to say that last week, Yasser left the hospital with a huge smile after a successful operation! Soon he will be able to play with his older brother. None of this would have been possible without the support of our donors such as you.

This Saturday, when most of us will be recovering from our Thanksgiving dinner, a team from Denver will go to Managua to operate on another 10 children just like Yasser. They will also train the local team, so that between our medical missions, they can continue to operate on simpler cases.

A mission costs about $25,000, yes, $25,000 to save 10 lives and train doctors that will save many more lives in the future!

A matching fund of 10,000.00 is available until December 31, 2015. If you donate now, every dollar will be matched up to $10,000. Please donate now to make your dollars go even further!

Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate

Cost of a mission:

• Plane tickets: $15,000
• Medical supplies: $5,000
• Lodging: $4,500
• Insurance: $500