Kadiatu Kamara

Kadiatu Kamara, 6, fractured the tibia bone in her left leg due to a fall.  An infection developed in the bone, resulting in too much pain to walk and she had to be carried on her mother’s back.  

On February 5, 2019, we took Kadiatu to one of the teams from the German-based organization Orthopedie-Fuer-die-Welte (O-D-W) that, while I was in country, was visiting the St. John of God Hospital in Lunsar. The surgeon, Dr. Artur Klaiber, told us that he would first have to operate to clean out the infected bone and then install an external fixator (a device that would hold the two ends of the bone in place). This device would also extend and be exposed on the outside of her leg so that small adjustments could be made to the positions of the bones through the fixator.  

Two-months later, Kadiatu had already had a second surgery. She was out of pain and able to walk on her own with crutches, and with the external fixator still attached.  Her mother and she are still boarding at a house near the hospital in order to have the dressings changed and adjustments made through the fixator.  We are all hoping that in another month the bone will have healed completely and she will be strong enough for the fixator to be removed. Then, she will be able to walk without crutches and her mother and she can return to their home in Freetown. 

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