The inspiration to start the Glow Fund came on a trip to Sichuan in 2003, when founder trustee Aaron Deemer met seven-year-old Dolma. Dolma is a Tibetan girl who had severe scoliosis at the time Aaron met her.  Like many Tibetans in that region, Dolma’s family lived as nomads and primarily herded yak for a living. Seeing how difficult her life would be with this condition, he decided to try and help her.

 

Aaron immediately contacted Eulalia Andreasen, who had been arranging medical missions in China for many years with her charity BICCO (Beijing International Committee for Chinese Orphans). With Eulalia’s support and generous donations from family and friends, Aaron was able to help Dolma receive a spine-straightening operation from some of the world’s leading orthopaedic surgeons from Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

 

With the severe curvature of her back eliminated, Dolma is now a healthy, nineteen-year-old high school graduate who still keeps in touch with Aaron.  The success of Dolma’s operation showed Aaron how a deeply positive impact could be made by connecting a child's needs with the care, support and expertise of people living far away. Since then, Aaron (joined in 2006 by his wife Mimi) has worked with Eulalia and BICCO to fundraise and coordinate bringing Tibetan children with scoliosis to Chinese hospitals for operations with the team of Stanford doctors.