BURI RAM: A 26-year-old woman left blind from years of working at an iron smelter and struggling to support her 15-month-old son on Monday used part of the money she received from sympathetic donors to, in turn, make a donation to the local public hospital.
Relatives took Sunisa Moongruayklang to Buri Ram Hospital where she intended to donate 50,000 baht of the 1.47 million baht she received from donors who learned about her miserable life through social media.
However, the hospital management told her that it was unable to accept the cash from her because it came from donors who wanted to help her.
Instead, it was suggested she buy medical equipment for the hospital such as an electrocardiograph, which it seriously needed. Mrs Sunisa agreed.
Hospital director Charan Thongthab said the hospital was in dire need of such machines because the number of heart patients was growing. The donation from Mrs Sunisa truly benefitted the hospital, he said.
Mrs Sunisa, also known as Yui, said she hoped her contribution would help other patients and that her good deed might lead to a miracle that would one day return her sight.
Ms Sunisa lost vision in both her eyes after working at an iron smelter for seven years. Her husband left her to enter the monkhood and she had been struggling ever since to take care of their child. She had been relying on her 800-baht monthly allowance for the disabled and a 300 baht state welfare card for the poor.
Last week she told the media that she had stopped accepting donations because the 1.47 million baht she had already received was enough for improvements to her rusty shack, her son's education and general living expenses.
She hit the headlines after a neighbour posted her story on social media, attracting instant sympathy. A paraplegic man in Chachoengsao province even offered to donate one eye to her. However, the law does not allow a living person to donate an eye to another, nor is a complete transplant that restores vision surgically possible at this time.