Pattaramon Chanbua works as a food vendor in Sri Racha, Thailand but due to her family's financial problems and faced with obligations to pay debts, she decided to become a surrogate mother for an Australian couple who could not conceive a baby by themselves.
The 21 year old mother of two children thought that with the amount of money she would receive, she can repay her debts and be able to educate her children. The surrogacy agency in Thailand's capital city of Bangkok that mediates Pattaramon's dealing with the Australian couple promised to pay her about $16,000.
"The money that was offered was a lot for me," Pattaramon said. "In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt."
Things, however, did not go well as intended. Between four to five months through her pregnancy, Pattaramon, who was carrying twins, was told that one of the babies has Down's Syndrome and that she had to abort the child. Pattaramon rejected the idea believing that aborting a child is a sin and went on with her pregnancy.
In December, Pattaramon gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. Just as the doctors have said, the boy, who was named Gammy, has Down's syndrome and life-threatening heart problems. What made matters worse is that the Australian couple did not take the sick boy and only took home his twin sister. As a result, the impoverished Pattaramon now has to take care of the boy, who needs costly medical care that she could not afford with her financial situation.
Pattaramon said that she feels sorry for Gammy because he was abandoned while his parents only chose to take home the healthier baby.
"Why does he have to be abandoned while the other baby has it easy? I feel sorry for him," Pattaramon said. "I don't know what to do. I chose to have him, not to hurt him. I love him. He was in my tummy for nine months, it's like my child. I treat him like my other children, never think you are not my child and I don't care for you, never."
Following media coverage of the story, an online campaign was initiated to raise money for the Gammy's treatment. The "Hope for Gammy" fundraising campaign at Gofundme aimed to raise $200,000 that will be used to help the child but as of the writing, the campaign has already raised over $213,000.
