When You Try To Help

This little guy is Nicodeme. I first met him at the Prospere clinic just this past Monday. He was a cute little kid. The complaints were that he had a fever, cold, cough, and he wasn't eating. These are the primary things that parents complain about with their children. So I checked him out. I found a light cough but very little conguestion in his chest. So I gave him someTylenol and cough medicine. It was not until I told them that they were free to go that Nicodeme's father let me know the real problems. He's not able to walk. "Well how old is he?" He seemed small to me. "28 months." "What?" So the REAL examination started. I allowed him to stand by holding onto a stool and although he was able to stand up he was certainly unable to walk.I then put Nicodeme on the exam table and checked him for congenital hip disorder and I believe this is what I'm looking at. I am hoping to be able to get him to go to a Haitian Orthropedic surgeon who will be able to give us a definite diagnosis through X-Rays. The two biggest problems for children like this is that their parents are working for about $3.00 a day and even if they had the money to cover some of these costs there are no surgeons in this country who does those surgeries. If you have any ideas let me know.

Now, the reason I get a little emotional about this situation has much to do with this little girl in the picture. Her name is Jacqueline Esther Ling Ackerman. At this time in her life we had just moved to Haiti and we were yet to know about our future dealings for our little girl. By the time she became 16 months old she was just starting to begin to walk and when she did it was with a great deal of pain and difficulty. Due to some special friends and a geat pediatrician, Jacquie was blessed to be able to go to the Shriner's Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, who came to her rescue when she was in need. After a few months of braces, casting, and more braces she began to catch up with other children.Wouldn't it be great if all children of the world would be so blessed? And so it goes!

John

Jacquie at 3 months