A Boy Named Courage
A particular story comes to mind… Courage (appropriately named, as you will soon see) was a 7-year-old boy who was walking with his grandmother along the side of the road when he was hit by a truck. The truck driver did not realize he hit the boy and drug him for about 100 meters before stopping.
When Courage came to the hospital he was barely conscious with multiple head wounds, a fractured femur, and more skin on his hand than on all of his back. About 2 weeks after his fracture was set, upon returning from having his dressings changed, we found his cast off and his leg re-fractured (at about a 90 degree angle). A few days later (thankfully), Drs. Leo Brown and Peter Meade (visiting Surgeons through MDA) arrived and helped to reset the leg and with the “Otis Dermatome” (named after a German medical student who was also here at that time and helped to put together this do-it-yourself dermatome) they were able to skin graft his back with great success.
Further rehabilitation under the direction of Dr. Kate Bolton (a visiting Pediatrician through MDA) and Dr. Sandra Squire-Murray (our then new Cuban Pediatrician), saw Courage improving day to day. When Courage was discharged he was walking and on follow up he was running and jumping like any other 7 year old. For all that the team of doctors did medically, Courage did 100 times more, not only for himself, but for all those who were touched by him.
Thank you all for your support and prayers.
Love,
Brent and Jennifer