You Helped a Young Boy Walk for the First Time
Helping Children with Limb Disabilities: No matter where they live in the world, children with limb disabilities experience struggles that many of us never have to face. Without treatment, a child with congenital disorders like clubfoot could face a lifetime of missed opportunities: he or she may never attend school, find a job, or lead a self-sufficient life.
Simply receiving corrective surgery is enough to dramatically improve the life of a child with clubfoot.
2011 Honoree Dr. Ashok Banskota is providing medical care for children with limb disabilities in Nepal. One of those children is Ram Krishna, who is now taking his first steps, thanks to corrective surgery for clubfoot:
Clubfoot is one of the most common congenital birth defects in the world, occurring in about 1 in 1,000 live births. However, though corrective treatment is available, many children and their families lack access to medical centers and the funding to be able to afford surgery.
Ram Krishna was born in Nepal with bilateral club feet, a condition that causes both feet to turn inward at the ankle. His 19-year-old mother struggled to support her family with the funds her husband sent to the family as he worked as a laborer in India. Life was hard enough covering the costs of basic needs like food and shelter, let alone finding the money to afford a special surgery for her son. Nevertheless, she knew that if Ram Krishna, still a baby, did not receive treatment, he may never be able to walk.
Fortunately, Ram Krishna’s mother met another child who had been treated for clubfoot at the HRDC, run by 2011 World of Children Health Award Honoree, Dr. Ashok Banskota. Upon arrival at the HRDC facility, Ram Krishna immediately began treatment. After his clubfeet were corrected, Ram Krishna was released, and is now receiving follow up treatment through the HRDC’s community-based care center in the Kaski district of western Nepal to make sure that his feet continue to grow normally.
Dr. Banskota has used the World of Children’s grant funds to help other children like Ram Krishna, having treated a total of 130 patients with clubfoot from all over Nepal since last December, ranging in age from 1 month to 8 years old. All of us at the World of Children look forward to continuing to support Dr. Banskota’s work, and seeing more children’s lives changed with treatment!