Please meet Baba Patrick (and Caroline and Stephen). He is the father to three of our Start Small students and is an incredibly humble, hardworking man. In fact, he is the reason that his children were first introduced to Start Small and eventually sponsored. He met our founder, Cindy, selling vegetables in town where he has worked for many, many years. He is ALWAYS smiling, friendly, happy, kind, and just a lovely man to be around. His children have always been his top priority and he is the exact type of person that Start Small strives to help.

He has been struggling with health issues for the past several months but was misdiagnosed at a local hospital. Thankfully, our team knew things were getting worse when he was admitted again last week and stepped in to take him for a second opinion. They quickly discovered that he is suffering from advanced kidney failure and requires urgent care or he will not make it. It is a very dire and scary situation and we are doing all we can to make sure Baba Patrick can continue to be there for his children and wife.

While the family does have health insurance, it unfortunately does not cover most of the medicine and care that he needs. He needs a kidney specialist at his side for at least the next two weeks, as well as nurses for around the clock care until he stabilizes. His medicine requirements are also extensive. The journey ahead will not be easy but we hope we can releive some of the financial burden for this family and get Baba Patrick back to stability before it is too late.