The Boun Lod Fund

It’s been a little over a year now since Boun Lod and her mother Noi went home to Laos.

By the look of this recent picture of Boun Lod, she’s growing like a weed.

Boun Lod, January 2011

As mentioned before, Boun Lod is not allowed to go to a public school in Laos because of her disabilities. Andy, one of our Lao contacts, and a friend of Boun Lod’s family, arranged for Boun Lod to attend a private school. By all accounts, she’s done well. Andy also arranged for a private tutor to help Boun Lod catch up on the work she’d missed while she was in the US. We used some of the money that was left in the Boun Lod fund to cover tuition and pay for the tutor.

Boun Lod is scheduled to resume her surgery and treatment in early June. While the first round of surgery in 2008–2010 was primarily functional, that is, it was mainly to allow her to grow and develop properly, we expect this round of surgery to be more cosmetic in nature. Still, we’ll have to wait and see what the surgeons say once they’ve had a chance to examine Boun Lod, and to see how well she’s healed, and how she’s doing.

With the help of Sivone, another of our Lao contacts, Noi and Boun Lod applied for their US visas. They have just received them, and we have booked their flights. Boun Lod and Noi are due to arrive back in Cincinnati at the end of May.

I’m very pleased to report that Calgary’s Al Azhar Shriners have very generously agreed to cover the airfares for Boun Lod and Noi to fly back and forth between Laos and the USA. This is most helpful and much appreciated!

Between rounds of surgery and therapy, Boun Lod and her mother will travel to Philadelphia and stay with family there. A US-based airline has agreed to fly them between Cincinnati and Philadelphia as long as Boun Lod is also a patient at the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia. We’re just waiting for confirmation from the Philadelphia Hospital that, as before, it will provide Boun Lod with prosthetics, training, and therapy. Once everything is confirmed, we’ll thank the airline by name.

Due to the very generous response to our initial fundraising efforts, we have a good start on the funds we’ll need for this round of surgery and treatment. We will, however, need to top up the Boun Lod fund, and we’d very much welcome any donations or fundraising ideas you might have!