Goal – $1,248 (enough for 2 surgeries)
As you know, we lost our baby Diega at birth due to uterine rupture on October 21, 2023. We were called to the Fistula Foundation after Diega’s death. While losing her was the most difficult experience we’ve ever had, I received world class medical care that saved my life. My uterus was repaired, and I am now pregnant again with a healthy baby girl. Unlike me, women who suffer from fistula do not have access to c-sections and other life saving interventions. They often lose their baby and go on to suffer this horrible birth injury, fistula, which leaves them leaking urine and sometimes feces. They are typically ostracized from their communities and find it difficult to work and live a normal life. The Fistula Foundation provides surgery to repair their fistula, which allows the opportunity for a normal life. One surgery is $624. It would be so meaningful to us to raise enough money to provide life-giving surgeries to two women at $1,248. These funds will be raised in memory of our beautiful Diega.
Love,Tara, Rusty & Rowdy
Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury. It leaves a woman incontinent, humiliated, and—all too often—shunned by her community. Obstetric fistula ranks as one of humanity’s most disabling injuries, but it can be cured by a surgery that costs, on average, only $624.
An obstetric fistula occurs when a mother has a prolonged, obstructed labor, but doesn’t have access to emergency medical care, such as a C-section. During a prolonged labor, a woman experiences contractions that continually push a baby’s head against her pelvis. Soft tissues caught between the baby’s head and her pelvic bone become compressed, restricting the normal flow of blood. Without adequate blood supply, sections of tissue soon die, leaving a hole—known as a “fistula”—between the woman’s vagina and her bladder or rectum. This hole causes her to become incontinent. If the fistula goes untreated, the woman will uncontrollably leak urine or stool (and sometimes both) for the rest of her life.
Untreated obstetric fistula most commonly occurs in poor, rural areas of Africa and Asia where the women affected live in dirt-floor dwellings and lack access to running water and incontinence pads. Unable to control the leaking of her body’s waste, she suffers with chronic infections and pain. Too often, her smell drives away her husband, family, and friends.
With little community understanding of her injury and its causes, a woman is frequently blamed for her condition. She too often lives in isolation, unaware that others share her injury, and that it is treatable.
Fistula Foundation provides free fistula repair surgery to women, and invests in surgeon training and other services, in more than 30 countries across Africa and Asia. Since 2009, Fistula Foundation has delivered more than 100,000 life-transforming surgeries at nearly 200 sites in 35 countries across Africa and Asia.
No other organization brings healing to more women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries. The Foundation funds more fistula repair surgeries across more countries than any other organization, including the United Nations and the U.S. government.
For questions about other donation options, contact Alyssa Vu (alyssa@fistulafoundation.org).