Richard Suffers a Tumor and Leg Infection
This patient story regards Richard, a young man who lost his leg to a severe infection:
Richard was 15 when he had a wound on his ankle that wouldn’t heal. Eventually, his father took him to the hospital where they opened up the wound and found that he had a cancerous tumor in his leg. The doctors were too nervous to operate on it so they left the wound open and Richard was left with no other option but to go home. To make matters worse, Richard’s family was too poor to take him to another doctor so he could do nothing but wait. Three weeks went by during which the open wound became so severely infected, that when he finally saw a doctor, they had to amputate Richard’s leg above the knee.
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Richard’s family was very poor, only having enough land to grow food to feed their immediate family. With his new disability, Richard was unable to attend school or work to help his family. This made Richard feel terrible. However, his father managed to save enough money for him to travel to La Paz to attend our clinic.
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Once Richard reached our clinic, he met 3 other young people who also had above-knee amputations, and we watched Richard change completely. He had not socialized with anyone outside his family for 7 years so he was shy, timid, and unsure how to behave. However, after 5 days with 2 beautiful vibrant girls from Tarija and an ex-boxer/model from Cochabamba, he was a completely different young man. He got a haircut, some new clothes, went out for lunch, smiled, joked, and laughed like he was getting his teen years back. We played volleyball, did obstacle courses, went round the block stopping for ice cream, and sat in the sun so Richard could get used to his new prosthetic and gain confidence being out and about under his new conditions. In fact, at the end of his time at our clinic, he had so much fun he didn’t want to leave!
If you would like to help more Bolivian amputees like this one, then please donate now.
