Samantha B., 3

Samantha is a 3-year-old girl from a low-income family living in a rural village without access to electricity. Her family walks over 30 minutes to fetch water from a nearby stream. Her father, the sole provider, works as a security guard at a local day school, earning only 2,000 shillings to support the household. Samantha has sickle cell disease and has recently been experiencing a persistent productive cough, chest pain, fever, and fatigue. According to her grandmother, she has lost her appetite and becomes tired very quickly. Due to her illness, she has not been able to attend school—which is 6 kilometers from their home—for the past three weeks.

Samantha was diagnosed with anemia and received treatment that included antibiotics and rehydrating fluids. As her condition improved, she was discharged from the hospital to continue recovery at home. During a follow-up call, the Helpster volunteer spoke with her joyful mother, who happily shared that Samantha had fully recovered and returned to school. She expressed heartfelt gratitude to Helpster Charity for the excellent care and support, noting that affording medication had always been a major challenge for their family.

Samantha has a good prognosis, for as long as she is able to take the medication daily. She has begun taking medication at a young age and this normally has a good prognosis for people living with sickle cell.