Meet the Children from past years
In 2013 Dorje Namit, then nine years old, went through an eight hour surgery to straighten his spine, with amazing results.
Dorje is Tibetan, from northern Sichuan. Before the surgery, Dorje’s life was pretty much resigned to being little more than the family servant. There’s not much use for education, since with a disability like this, his work opportunities are close to zero, his marriage possibilities are close to zero, and his life expectancy is heart-breakingly low.
Now, two years on, Dorje is just like all the other children, back at school, and healthy as an ox.
Dorje Namit, nine-years-old
Jigtso, nine-years-old
Jigtso, nine-years-old
Yeshe Tenzin, eleven-years-old
Dolma Lhamo, with her sister and mother.
Dolma, 19 years-old
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 orthopedic surgeons from Stanford University 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.
