Help Vireak live - support the future of Cambodia

Medical

Bangkok

2,600 THB / 600,000 THB

Raised by 4 persons in 198 days

Donate now

Created on October 18 2023

By Sabine TOURTELLIER

The Story

6 months ago

I have spent the last 4 years living and working in Cambodia a country that I have now come to call home. I am the former English Pedagogy Coordinator at Salai Bai Hotel and Restaurant School. The school is well known and respected here in Siem Reap for providing first-class hospitality training to Khmer young people living in difficult circumstances with little or no opportunity to escape the poverty trap. Thanks to this enriching human experience, I had the chance to meet Vireak in 2019 when he was a student at Salai Bai.

Vireak’s story is simply heartbreaking. Vireak is 22 years old. He was a top-notch student a Salai Bai and excelled not only in his studies but in the many extracurricular activities that the school offers. He has a smile that lights up a room and was one of the most popular students with his teachers and classmates. He was keen to continue with his studies so enrolled at PEPY which is a local non-profit NGO providing personal and professional development training to rural youth in Siem Reap.

Then tragedy struck at the tender age of 20 he was diagnosed with aggressive lymphatic cancer. He has received treatment here in Cambodia and in Ubon, Thailand, which so far has been funded by Sala Bai. However, further chemotherapy treatment is desperately needed to stop the spread of the cancer. We believe that Bangkok offers the best opportunities for Vireak. He has started treatment at Vejthani Expert Life Cancer Center in Bangkok. We could fund his first session of chemotherapy which he underwent last week, and he needs 2 or 3 more sessions with a period of 3 weeks in between each session. This could save his life so we desperately need your help! An approximate cost from Vejthani is between $5,000 and $6,000 by session + a Pet Scan to check at the end and maybe 1 or 2 more sessions....

He has made such a success of his life so far and we are desperate for that to continue. He still has that beautiful smile even though his future looks so very bleak....

By helping Vireak, you're helping the community and young Cambodian people. Not only is he ambitious, but he also thrives to motivate other young Cambodians like him to read and learn as much as possible.

As a French 53-year-old coming from a privileged environment with access to medical care and education, I am deeply moved by Vireak's story, who took every opportunity to learn and encouraged others to do the same. I and all the people who have supported him since the beginning of his illness cannot accept the idea that he cannot pursue his dreams because he does not have the necessary funds to benefit from quality treatment.