Where do I begin? Recapping my past two months in Haiti

Over the past two months I have seen and done so much. Kanaval. The Citadel. Cap Haitian. The Bahamas. The Dominican Republic.  Four surgical groups.

Jacmel Carnival, aka "Kanaval"

Haiti's pride, the Citadel

Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic

snapshot of the OR

Many times these experiences can be an emotional roller coaster.  The beauty in our world.  The needs in our world.  Highs of helping people with surgery. Lows of telling someone we cannot help them.  I feel like I could write a book about everything I have seen and done in the past two months - I can't believe it's only been that long since my last blog post.

But out of everything that has happened over the past two months, one event stands out to me the most - surgery for the boy from Marmont.

Some of you may know him personally.  Some of you may know his story, having read my first blogpost about him (Excitement. Disappointment. Glimmer of Hope) and the highs and lows I have experienced with him.   Well, I have some good news to report. After over a year of searching for proper treatment for him.  After 10 years of not receiving any or adequate care, Badjhon had surgery to correct the club foot deformity in his left foot.  

For the amazing surgery team from Salva Vida partnering with the organization I work for, Community Coalition for Haiti, and for our staff, it was one surgical case during another week of life-changing surgeries.  But this time, I was one of the lives that was changed.  To Badjhon and his mother, to me and others who know him, it was such a monumental event. 

When I first met Badjhon in January of 2014, he came into our clinic, being carried by his mother.  He was nine years old.  Up until that point in his life, the only way he could get around was by crawling on his hands and knees or by being carried around by his mother.  My team and I had not seen or treated patients like him before, but after some brainstorming and creative thinking, we were able to get him walking with crutches...it was the first time in his life that he had stood and walked by himself.  It was an amazing experience.

However, that was the limit of what we were able to do for him.  While he was now able to walk short distances with the crutches, he still had his major deformities that prevented him from walking, prevented him from putting on shoes, and prevented him from being able to go to school.  So I set out to find him the treatment he needed.  

I shared his case with various doctors in the USA and non-profit organizations in Haiti.  We learned that corrective surgery could be done.  Many people said they might be able to help, but nothing ever came of it.  We found someone to do it, only for them not to show up.  Leaving us with the uncertainty of if and when he would be able to have the corrective surgery performed.  There was very little hope.

Then came the group of orthopedic physicians from Salva Vida, who said they could do the surgery. 

Unlike the first plan for surgery, this time the doctors showed up.  They performed the surgery and were able to correct the club foot deformity in Badjhon's left foot.  This will give him the ability to stand up straight.  It will enable him to walk for longer distances with his crutches.  It will give him the ability to put on a normal pair of shoes.  It will enable him to go to school.

However, this will not come easy.  While the plan is certainly doable, there are still many obstacles to overcome.  We have gotten over the largest hurdle of having the surgery performed.   However, having major reconstructive, orthopedic surgery like this is no easy process - even if you are in a developed country.  Do it in a low-resource environment like Haiti and it magnifies the difficulty of the recovery.

After the surgery, Badjhon recovered at our medical center for two days before having to head back to his hometown, six hours away.  Fortunately, he would not have to take the public bus transportation all of the way as I was heading to Port Au Prince and was able to provide him with a ride to the bus station there.  Cutting his trip on public transportation in half.  However, this was not an easy trip for Badjhon.  Only being two days post-op, he was still experiencing pain during the drive to PAP.  When we got to the bus station, he was in obvious discomfort and was crying and in pain.  When we put him on the bus to his hometown, which is a 12 passenger van, it was borderline chaotic.  He was only in his underwear and his t-shirt.  His mother didn't have much money to feed them for the day, let alone pay for the bus ride.  Which I had to lend her two dollars to help cover the higher-than-expected cost.  To top it all off, Badjhon had to pee.  Having to do so in a plastic bottle right there on the bus, in front of everyone.  He was crying, his six month old baby brother was crying, and on the inside, I was crying too.

It was a horrible thing to see and experience.  I didn't like it.  I didn't like seeing him that way.  But I knew it was for the better.  That the pain and discomfort were temporary and that in the long run, he would be better off.

But the story doesn't end there.  

The cast Badjhon currently has on has to be removed.  After that, he has to have another cast put on.  After that he needs to do physical therapy.  Where he lives, he does not have direct access to this level of care.  Hopefully, he will be able to find the care he needs at a hospital that is only an hour away.  But it might require him to make the three hour trip to PAP, or to make the six hour trip to return to Jacmel.

I am not sure exactly where he will get the next step in his care, but I will be sure to make it happen.