Xia’s Story: Surviving A Deadly Intestinal Tear

Eleven-year-old Xia lives in a small village in Thoun Thon District, deep in the Lao countryside. Life hasn’t been easy after losing both her parents at a young age, she and her five siblings have been lovingly raised by their grandmother and auntie. But nothing prepared them for the health scare that nearly took Xia’s life. 
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For over a month, Xia had been quietly suffering from stomach pain. At first, it came and went, but as time passed, the pain worsened. Her Auntie rushed her to the district hospital. There, she was misdiagnosed with a stomach bug and sent home with basic treatment.   Her belly eventually became swollen and tender, and she lost her appetite completely. When she stopped eating, talking, and could barely move, she was sent to the hospital again and was told that they needed to go to Lao Friends Hospital for Children ASAP.  An ultrasound revealed severe swelling in her intestines.  

What doctors discovered was alarming: Xia had a perforated bowel, a hole had formed in her small intestine, leaking bacteria and waste into her abdomen. This caused a life-threatening infection called peritonitis, and she was on the brink of septic shock, a dangerous complication where the body’s response to infection causes organ failure. 
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Xia was rushed into emergency surgery in the middle of the night. Surgeons found the hole in her intestine and performed an ileostomy, a life-saving operation that diverts waste from the intestine through an opening in the belly into a special bag. She also received a blood transfusion during the operation due to dangerously low blood pressure. 
 

But surgery was only the beginning. Xia spent six days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she required constant monitoring. The ICU team worked around the clock to prevent further complications like paralytic ileus (where the bowel becomes temporarily paralyzed), and to stop the infection from spreading to her other organs. Thanks to ICU-level care, her vital signs stabilized, her breathing improved, and her bowel slowly started to function again. 
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Today, Xia is back home with her auntie and grandma, recovering well. Her journey isn’t over. She’s lost a lot of weight and will still face months of recovery. She will soon return for a follow-up appointment to determine if her ileostomy can be reversed. In the meantime, our outreach nurses will continue to support her in providing nutrition support and stoma care guidance for as long as she requires.
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Xia’s story is a powerful reminder of what access to free, quality healthcare means for children in Laos. Without the emergency and ICU care she received at Lao Friends Hospital, Xia may not have had a chance to survive.