Give prosthetics to low limbs amputees in Colombia

We are happy to tell you that Mahavir Kmina is celebrating 10 years of work for the benefit of lower limb amputees. In this decade, the Corporation has benefited more than 3.400 human beings with completely free leg prostheses. Although most of them are Colombian, our cause has impacted eight other countries in Latin America.

As part of the activities we planned to celebrate this historic milestone, we decided to visit some of our beneficiaries at their homes to have a conversation and prepare some stories to make the public knowledge. One of the most impressive was that of Matias, a four-year-old boy who lives as cheerful and energetic as any other child, despite the fact that he was amputated from one of his legs when he was not yet aware of himself.

Matias enjoys doing many of the things that other children do in Colombia: he likes to go to the playground with his friends, play soccer and swim. Besides, he just started going to school and we know that, for now, he will have no problem.

“We are immensely grateful with Mahavir Kmina and its donors because they are allowing us to give another horizon to Matias' life. With the prosthetics they donate us, our son has a normal and happy life. Matias not only walks, he also runs, jumps, plays and does all kinds of physical activities that we never imagined he could perform”, said Joanna, Matia’s mom.

Mahavir Kmina has donated prostheses to Matias since he was two years old, so it is especially pleasing for us to witness his great evolution. On the other hand, the prosthesis he is using today will be short in some months, but Mahavir Kmina will be present to donate him a new one.

With your support, Matias has a dignified and happy life. But if we want to continue impacting the lives of more amputee children in Colombia, we must work much more. Therefore, please consider the possibility of being a recurring donor to our cause and contribute even more to improve the lives of children with the same condition of Matthias.

Evis was born without her right leg. At her mother’s pregnancy, the little girl was not able to develop her low limb. Her mother, Ledys, tell us her story:

“When I gave birth, I did not know Evis was not normal. The doctor told me that she had a special situation: she was born without one of her legs. At first, I cried every night, because she was my little girl and I asked myself how she was going to walk. How was she going to live? I filled my head with all sorts of complexes, but then I realized that she had just been born, that I had a miracle in my hands” says Ledys holding back her tears.

During his first years, Evis was not able to live without the permanent support of her family. But at the age of six, she began to walk on her own. “Evis wanted to go outside the house and play, she wanted to be like the other kids. So we crafted her a prosthetic with a bottle of soda, which she used until it did not fit anymore”, explains Ledys.

Therefore, her grandma fabricated another “prosthesis” with plastic cups. She picked many of them, each one of a different color, and put them one inside the other to make a tower on which the stump rested. While she grew, more cups were added to the tower. Evis walked in that way for almost nine years, until she got a real prosthetic from Mahavir Kmina.

Evis did not want to speak with us, she is a very shy girl. Even so, she is a great example of strength and perseverance. Her colorful tower was not the exactly what she needed, but it certainly helped her to have an almost normal lifestyle. She even used to play soccer and volleyball with her friends, but now she has the appropiate leg to play as a champion.

In the present days, Evis is going back to school, enjoying her youth and dreaming with being a great doctor. All of this is possible thanks to Mahavir Kmina, but even more to you, who gave a donation to cover the crafting expenses of her prosthetic.

Our prostheses are donated free of charge to our beneficiaries, that is why we need your support to continue helping Colombian amputee children to walk again. Please consider the idea of being a recurring donor of this project.

From Kmina’s family, thank you very much for believing that there still are opportunities to star over.