When we think of childhood, we often think back to our fun filled, worry free days of endless play and ambitious dreams. While we might have our sad moments, we always seemed to come out of it with smiles on our faces.

However, not everyone is blessed with an idyllic and happy childhood. There are children whose days are fraught with pain and suffering, and each day is a struggle to get through, with countless visits to hospitals for treatments and therapies, and a dependence on medication, just to stay alive.

We have all heard the countless heat-breaking stories of kids who suffer from life-threatening diseases like diabetes, brittle bone disease, heart disease, growth hormone deficiency and epilepsy.

One such kid is Wei Xi.

When she was just three years old, Wei XI was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and as a result, she has had to undergo seven brain operations. Because of her condition, she was unable to go to school and study with other kids her own age. This made her feel constantly frustrated and depressed… her only happiness came from playing with her pet bird.

As her motor skills were affected by her illness, the Children’s Medical Fund came to her aid, providing her with growth hormone treatment, which has drastically improved the quality of her life.

Now she is gaining new friends, and is well enough to attend a special school, thanks to the efforts of the CMF and the heartfelt generosity of donors like you. Now with the drug subsidy provided to Wei Xi, she has improved health and is starting to live a happy childhood.

Kids today are very lucky to have the convenience of electronic devices at home, like television, computers and video games. However, some kids have another kind of electronic device in their homes… a kidney dialysis machine, which helps keep their blood clean.

Joan is another child whom the Children Medical Fund has helped with its innovative medical subsidy programmes. Born with a defective kidney, Joan has suffered from end-stage kidney failure since she was just two and a half years old.

Every night she undergoes a ten-hour dialysis ritual where she is connected to the machine by a permanent catheter tube which was implanted into her belly.

Treatment to keep her alive costs over three thousand dollars a month at private clinics, but thanks to the children’s medical fund, her parents only have to pay a hundred and fifty eight dollars a month for this life saving treatment. Her parents still hope that Joan will be able to get a kidney transplant soon, but unfortunately, she must wait, as there is a serious shortage of organ donors in Singapore.

Until the day that a new kidney becomes available, the Children’s medical fund, and hopefully you as well, will be there so that Joan can grow up and enjoy a normal life, free from the horrors of catheter tubes a the dialysis machine.

Since the year 2000, the Children’s Medical Fund has benefited over twenty nine hundred kids suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses, by providing subsidized health care and assistance to them and their families. Providing crucial financial aid to those children suffering from congenital heart diseases, growth hormone deficiency, childhood diabetes, epilepsy and many other tragic diseases.

In addition, the children’s Medical fund has conducted health talks for over a quarter of a million school kids, all over Singapore, promoting good health and teaching the methods on how to achieve it. This effort also includes health screenings for over twenty three hundred primary school children, with an emphasis on prevention.

The CMF also established the Shaw-NKF Children’s Kidney Center at the National University Hospital, which provides specialized health care for children suffering from chronic illnesses. The Children’s Kidney Centre is staffed by the most highly trained and qualified medical personnel, and is funded by the CMF and donors like you. The Children’s Kidney Centre also offers special child life rehabilitations therapy, which helps these kids cope with the trauma of their illnesses. In addition, there is a diabetes nurse educator who provides essential therapy for kids suffering from diabetes.

In this mission to help children who are no different that you or I, except for their suffering, the Children’s Medical Fund has pledged half a million dollars a year that is needed for the Children’s Kidney Centre to operate.

The Children’s Medical Fund also believes in every child’s right to a proper education, and provides tuition subsidies of up to 80%, to help these kids get the education they deserve.

However, the CMF cannot do it alone. Your help is needed in this life saving mission to help these children lead normal lives. Your support is critical to raising the ten million dollars, which is necessary for success.

We’re not asking you to give until it hurts… we’re just asking you to give until they stop hurting.