He looked like every other 11 month olds, a cute smile responding to his
mom and dad's voice, dressed in a long sleeved sleeper. As I
went to examine him, that is when his differences were obvious. He was born with only part of his left arm
and right leg.
His left arm was shortened, going down to about his elbow and then a
very small forearm that was turned the opposite way. His right leg was also shortened, down to the
knee, and then had a little foot, that was also turned sideways. Despite that, he was as normal as could be and awful cute.
I tried to explain what the future might hold for him to his
parents. With his current condition, he
won't walk in a land where you need to be able to be mobile. In a land where handicapped accessible doesn't
exist, you need your legs to get you over the rivers, the mountains, the
roads. You need your legs to walk to
school, to learn and equip yourself for future work to support yourself and
your family.
For Philistine, many of these things aren't going to happen, unless he
is able to get to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon who can do significant
reconstructive surgery for him. We don't
have a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery specialist here and I am not sure if there
is one in the country. Pray for Philistine, for this cute little baby who seems to have a
bright future, but lives in a very difficult land when you have disabilities.