Meet Zayar
Maung Zayar Tun is a 16-year-old boy who lives with his parents and two younger siblings in northern Myanmar. His father is a government officer while his mother works for an organisation that helps children with disabilities around Mandalay, Myanmar. Only Zayar and his younger brother are students. Zayar is in grade 10 but has not gone to school for the past month due to his poor health.
One day when Zayar was around 11 years old, he woke up to find that he could not move his legs. After using traditional medicine while receiving leg massages, he was able to walk again two weeks later. A few months after this incident, he was playing with his friends at school when he suddenly felt unusually exhausted and out of breath. Later that evening,
he told his mother about this. She then took him to Mandalay 500 Bed Hospital to be checked. He was admitted for one month and received an electrocardiogram (ECG). The doctor then told Zayar’s mother that he has a problem with his heart and that one of the four chambers in his heart is not right. The doctor did not mention anything about surgery but provided him with medication. After he was discharged, whenever he felt tired, he would take the medication the doctor prescribed to feel better.
In 2017, when he lived in his school’s dormitory, his health deteriorated again. Every morning while praying he would feel tired and have difficulty breathing. His teacher took him to a hospital outside of Mandalay, where he was given medication. A few days later, his mother took him to Mandalay General Hospital. At the hospital he received an echocardiogram, another ECG and an X-ray. The doctor told them he might need surgery and diagnosed him with aortic valve stenosis and regurgitation, a condition affecting one of the valves in his heart. Although the doctor did not mention the cost of the surgery, Zayar's mother knew it would be unaffordable for them because her friend had recently received surgery in Myanmar and she had to pay a lot.
One day later that year, Zayar's mother's manager called her to inform her of an organisation called Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF). That organisation would hold a wheelchair fitting mission in Mandalay with their help and told her that BCMF might be able to help her son. When Zayar and his mother met with BCMF staff, they referred Zayar to their sister organistaion Health For All (HFA) for assistance accessing surgery. An HFA staff then told them to go to Pinlon Hospital in Yangon. However, Zayar’s parents put off travelling there until late 2018 because they could not afford the cost of transportation at that time. They also wanted Zayar to finish his school year and they were unable to take any time off from work. Finally on December 19, 2018, Zayar admitted at Pin Long Hospital and he underwent an aortic valve replacement surgery on December 22, 2018. He was later discharged on December 28, 2018.
Since he underwent surgery, Zayar feels much better. He no longer feels tired when he walks and he no longer has problems sleeping at night. He remarked that he now looks much better and that his appetite has increased. “I am so happy that I received the surgery,” said Zayar. “I would like to continue my studies and go to university. I want to become a used car salesman.”