Children of the Americas

Patient with her former prosthesis, held together with tape

Most of us take the simple act of walking for granted. It is in our nature to automatically do the things our body was meant to do, until suddenly, for whatever reason, we no longer can.
This patient waited many hours in our line of hundreds of patients seeking care in January of 2012 when COTA worked in Zacapa, Guatemala. The heat index was over 100 degrees the week we were there, making physical exertion difficult, especially for someone with an ill-fitting worn out prostethic leg. It was not looking promising for this lady to get care the day she came to COTA--it was getting late, and our prosthetics and orthotics staff was running low on donated supplies as well as stamina. I wish I had a picture of her face when she was finally cleared by our triage staff to wait in our O and P lab. Priceless. Glowing. And inching her way, leaning heavily on a cane with an artificial leg held to her stump by a lot of tape and a little determination.
Jason and Shelley, our COTA volunteer O and P staff, worked for hours to get a new leg fabricated for this lady, working longer than they would have after hearing that travel back to Zacapa for more time with our team wasn't possible for this patient. The extra effort made a great impression on this patient, and she left with a new leg, and a big smile as she walked back out the gate and onto an easier life with her newfound ambulatory ability.