Surgery
for a Dominican Child in Barcelona
Little José Mario
Ramírez from Sabana Yegua (Dominican Republic) was born with a problem with his
legs, amyoplasia congenita, which is a severe deformity resulting from
restricted fetal movement in the womb. He has never been able to walk. He is now seven years old and in spite of the
fact that he is able to move around aided by his hands and feet, his situation is still very sad. A little more than a year ago, through a
volunteer from Barcelona who visited the Dominican Republic, we contacted the
Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, a wonderful teaching pediatric hospital in
Barcelona, owned by the Hospital Order of the Brothers of St. John of God.
Their CUIDAM program (http://www.cuidam.org/en/about_us/) is dedicated to making it easier for children with serious problems, from all
over the world, to be brought to the hospital in Barcelona for world class
treatment.
We were fortunate and
blessed that just a few months ago a doctor from that hospital traveled to the
Dominican Republic to conduct an orthopedic surgery workshop and was able to
evaluate José Mario, who was then designated for a future intervention. Finally, the child and his
mother traveled to Barcelona in October 2014. He was
evaluated by doctors who are presently correcting the position of his foot with casts for seven weeks. When this process is finished, they will
operate on his foot and hips. We hope
and pray that when all of his treatment finishes, he will be able to walk.
We thank everyone who has been part of this
accomplishment; our collaborators at the hospital and CUIDAM as well as all the
friends and volunteers who are accompanying and helping this child and his
mother during his stay in Spain. We are also thankful to all who have prayed
for the success of this endeavor. One of the joys of our
work is that, although we are small in number and scattered geographically,
through our network of caring and generous friends and volunteers, with their
relationships and resources, we are able to achieve miraculous stories like this one with José Mario.
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