Soddo Christian Hospital

Nine-year old Yadeta is a primary school student from Ethiopia who enjoys going to school and playing football with his friends. His parents are farmers, and Yadeta often helps them with the family's crops. Yadeta wounded his knee after falling a few months ago. His knee began to swell and it became difficult for him to bend it or put any weight on it. After visiting several health facilities who were unable to treat Yadeta, his family finally met with doctors at African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF) who diagnosed him with osteomyelitis-- a bone infection-- in his right tibia. The infection has produced some drainage from Yadeta's knee and causes him a lot of pain. It is difficult for him to walk, and he can no longer attend school. Yadeta needs surgery to fix his leg, but his family has already spent all their savings on previous doctors visits. If left untreated, the infection will eventually spread to the entire tibia and he will lose the bone or the bone will break. He will then be unable to support weight on that leg. For $535, a surgeon at AMHF will debride the bone in Yadeta's right leg, removing the infection. Then a sample specimen will be sent for pathology for analysis. He will be placed in traction to help with the knee contracture he has developed and then have a procedure to clean out the infected bone. When the bone heals, Yadeta should be able to walk without assistance and live a normal lifevfovfong.

“Erymas would like to go to school and complete his high school education,” shares our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). “If he is able, he would like to go to technical school and become a taxi or bus driver.” This dream has recently been jeopardized for fourteen-year-old Erymas by a bone infection that he has contracted in his tibia. This condition, known as osteomyelitis, occurs when an infection spreads to a bone from nearby tissue or via the bloodstream, or originates in an injured bone itself. For Erymas, the infection’s symptoms began as a “a scaly itchy spot on his lower right leg,” reports AMHF. “Subsequently the leg began to swell and there appeared drainage of pus from several open sores.” Although his family obtained medication from a local clinic, Erymas’s tibia has only gotten worse. His leg is now swollen with liquid, making it difficult for him to move. This means he is no longer able to help his family with their livelihood of subsistence farming. If left untreated, Erymas’s infection could spread to other parts of his leg, cause him to develop skin cancer, or even lead to bone death—meaning his leg would have to be amputated. To avoid these dangers, Erymas needs to undergo surgery to remove the infected bone and tissue close to his tibia, which will stop it from spreading to other parts of his leg. However, Erymas’s parents are unable to pay for this operation on top of providing for the basic needs of their eight children. For $535, Erymas will have his operation, and receive a week-long hospital stay and physiotherapy to recover from the surgery. “When the bone heals, Ermyas should be able to walk without assistance and live a normal life,” adds AMHF.

Fitsum is a ten-year-old boy from Ethiopia who is currently in the third grade. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), shares, “Fitsum was viciously kicked by a neighborhood child about one year ago. Though he suffered pain he continued to go to school until about two months ago when he was unable to continue to walk to school and participate in school activities.” Fitsum’s injury caused him to develop osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone, in his left femur. Some of the bone has died due to lack of blood flow to the area, forming a sequestrum, or a piece of dead bone that has separated from the rest. Fitsum requires surgery to remove the dead bone tissue so the remainder can heal. “If not treated, Fitsum’s leg could become deformed or develop severe infection that would result in amputation,” says AMHF. In order to provide for him and his 14-year-old sister, Fitsum’s mother cleans and washes clothes for neighbors. She is a single parent, divorced from her husband. “The family lives in a rented house, and has no relatives in that area to offer support,” AMHF tells us. Fitsum’s mother needs assistance to cover the $535 surgical procedure to heal Fitsum’s femur. “When the bone heals, Fitsum should be able to walk well again and live a normal life,” says AMHF. “When asked about his hope for his future, Fitsum hid his head in his mother’s shoulder. He later whispered to his mother that he wanted to be a preacher someday.”