By Bruce Moore | Nepal Country Director
One of my earliest, but still very vivid, memories of my work with AHF is meeting a seven-year-old girl named Sita. She was disabled — one leg was half the length of the other. She had spent her life hobbling about, being teased, and her disability was becoming a source of shame.
Fortunately, there was a place she could get help — the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children, or HRDC as we know it. HRDC’s founder and one of the world’s most compassionate and dedicated orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Ashok Banskota, diagnosed Sita with proximal femoral focal deficiency. Basically, she had no right thigh bone. Nothing could be done to change her leg, but something could be done to change her life.
The same day of the examination, Sita was measured for a prosthetic leg. It was made in HRDC’s own workshop, and a week later the technicians helped her fit it. Minutes later, with some initial support from parallel bars, Sita was walking upright and beaming. An hour later she walked herself out of the hospital, declaring it to be her best day ever! Up until then, I never noticed how tall she was.
Very few cases have solutions as swift as Sita’s. Many of the patients need extensive surgery. But Dr. Banskota, who has been joined by his equally dedicated son, Dr. Bibek Banskota, together with their team of doctors, nurses, therapists, technicians, teachers and cooks, give the same skilled and tender care to every child, regardless of the family’s financial situation.
HRDC heals minds as well as bodies. There is a nation-wide network of rehab specialists who not only help with Physical Therapy once a child is back home, but also work with communities to end discrimination and exclusion. And in their spare time they fit growing kids with new orthotic and prosthetic devices and look out for other children needing care.
The Drs. Banskota have built a hospital where love (and a lot of skill) really does cure pain — both the physical and the pain of being shunned because of an injury or disability. And they and their team are ready, with your help, to transform the lives of another 94,000 children.
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