-07.jpg)
Three (3) years ago, Yang Hen had a stroke. Not knowing any other option, the family borrowed $1,000 for treatment at a nearby hospital. The 59-year-old father of four from Takeo Province did not have the means to pay the money back any time soon. The treatment he received was expensive and of poor quality. Hen spent the next three (3) years, up until his admission to the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope (SHCH), with undiagnosed diabetes and poor hypertension control. He struggled to recover from the stroke as well.
For Hen, the pain and discomfort were nothing new. He had spent over 20 years working as a cyclo driver in Phnom Penh, earning around $4 per day. Driving a cyclo is physically demanding, and the work took its toll on Hen. In 1996 he was diagnosed with arthritis and eventually had to leave his cyclo job. When he moved back home to Takeo, Hen joined his wife and grown children working on the family farm.
Then last month, Hen came down with a high fever and difficulty breathing. He stopped sleeping and eating. The family sent him to a nearby hospital for treatment, but nothing seemed to help. Thankfully, the family heard about SHCH. When Hen came to SHCH, he was diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and was found to have recently had yet another stroke. Hen's presentation at SHCH is similar to many of our other patients. Missed diagnosis, late treatment, and a multitude of risk factors all mean that poor Cambodians are at high risk of mortality from chronic illnesses. In 2016, the cerebrovascular disease was the leading cause of death among Cambodians. Diabetes was the 7th leading cause of death.
After several weeks of inpatient treatment at SHCH, Hen is feeling like himself again. He is receiving the correct medications and rehabilitation and is nearly ready for discharge. The only person more excited about this than Hen is his wife, Yang Phall. "Without SHCH, my husband would be waiting to die at home," she says. "SHCH gave him a new life again!"