"I'm helping East Timor Hearts Fund
who saved my life" - Jose
Dear *|HTML:FIRSTNAME|*,
Imagine staying with your family on a long-awaited reunion in Melbourne when suddenly you're short of breath. Sensing something is very wrong, your brother rushes you to hospital to discover you have a serious heart condition. Imagine your health continuing to deteriorate, where walking and breathing are a daily struggle. Imagine being told surgery is your only solution; however you can’t have it as you're not a resident. Imagine knowing if you do live long enough to return home to your family in Timor-Leste, there are no cardiac services available to save your life. Last year, this was Jose’s reality.
Jose is a father of six children from Lospalos, Timor-Leste. Early last year, Jose reunited with his brother Victor and his family during a long awaited holiday in Melbourne. Suddenly Jose became unwell, experiencing shortness of breath. Victor rushed Jose to hospital where they diagnosed a severe heart problem. Victor then took Jose to see his General Practitioner who referred him to cardiologist Dr Minz Cheah. It was clear that Jose was in urgent need of surgery to save his life. International borders had shut, with no telling when Jose could return home. Jose could not get his surgery through the public health system as he is not Australian.
Fortunately, Jose was referred to East Timor Hearts Fund and we arranged life-saving surgery for Jose at Royal Melbourne Hospital in November 2020.
Jose’s health continues to improve. He struggles to find the words to express his immense gratitude to the medical team and the donors who made his surgery possible. He is passionate about helping others, so they too can have access to vital heart health services in Timor-Leste. Now Jose wants to Pay It Forward and save more lives.
“My family and I are supporting East Timor Hearts Fund to raise funds to save more heart patients like me.” - Jose
Timor-Leste is just an hour’s flight from Darwin. With a population of over 1.2 million people and one of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world, there are currently no cardiac clinical services in the country. People like Jose die every day due to poor access to heart health services. It costs$60 for a patient like Jose to have screening at our clinics in Timor-Leste. Will you help Jose reach his target of $6,000 to support 100 patients, to access vital cardiac screening in Timor-Leste?
East Timor Hearts Fund is Australia's only medical NGO dedicated to providing life-saving heart surgery for people from Timor-Leste, as well as heart-health education, prevention and research projects.
Thanks to supporters like you, Jose is looking forward to returning to his family as soon as international travel resumes. Please help Jose reach his target and save more lives in Timor-Leste.
Thank you for your commitment to saving lives in Timor-Leste If you would like to volunteer and get involved, head to ourwebsite Want to organise your own event? Download a copy of our fundraising guide
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re a proud recipient of the Australian Charities and Not-for-