Things that Inspire Us…

 May and June have been rough on Haiti. COVID-19 cases have been spiking and gang violence has increased to unprecedented levels, highlighting and spawning a host of problems. There’s plenty in the news about that, and Jeff Cho wrote a great blog post about how the good Lord extended our oxygen supplies past what they should have lasted for. In the O&P clinic at HAH, May and June have been our first 2 months of operation and it has been an absolute joy to see patients being fit with new legs and devices. So far there have been about 10 prosthetic cases (evenly split between below knee (BK) and above knee (AK) cases) and about the same number of orthotic cases. A few highlights for us (all names changed):

-Anders (BK) He came from far, far away from our clinic with a group of other patients. Everyone else in his group was hospitalized and waiting for operations, so Anders wandered around the hospital. Tim saw him hanging around and invited him into the O&P shop to watch his leg get made. He kept Tim company all day, got his leg, and then ran around the wards until it was time to go home. 

-Lance (AK)-Hadn’t walked since he lost his leg 8 years ago. Tim built him a leg that will tolerate incredible amounts of gait deviation without buckling. He left the clinic in his wheelchair because the first steps were exhausting. A few weeks later he slowly, but steadily walked in for his follow up appointment. 

-Curt (BK)-Young guy who lost his leg in a moto accident-he drove moto taxi for a living. Hadn’t been able to drive moto since the accident, got a leg, and proudly told us at his follow up visit that he picked up passengers on his way to the hospital. And that he’s been dancing-we figure that means the prosthetic is comfortable.

-Pierre. Bilateral AK. Initially his mom asked Tim to make covers for his residual limbs-she carries him long distances on her back, but for the short distances he was walking on his residual limbs and that was painful. Being here long term allowed Tim to gradually raise him up from stubbies until he was ready to graduate to knees. His first priority after getting legs was to hug his mom.

Amid the crazy we are thankful for a good God and the opportunity to work alongside Him.