Before all the COVID-19 stuff took over the world, I took a trip to Tanzania, shortly after so did a surgeon.
If you remember, I introduced you all to a little girl named Zawadi. She had suffered really bad burns at a young age (3 years old or so), she is now 7 years old.
Upon evaluation, I found that she had some active range of motion in her right arm that allowed her to participated in some activities of daily living. However, as you can see in the picture above, her total shoulder movement was severely limited by the scarring from the burn basically tethering her arm to her side. Her left arm had minimal movement because it was also fused together at the elbow. As you can also see, she lost all of her digits on her left hand, and her thumb and first digit on her right hand. One task she could still do, was write.
I am not sure of the name of the plastic surgeon that arrived after I left, but he was there in February. He evaluated Zawadi, and found he would be able to perform surgery for her. The plan was to release one arm now and come back and do the other arm this summer. He released her right arm, likely due to it’s functionality.
Just this last week, Dana sent me an amazing video. A bright light in this dark and gloomy quarantine time. Zawadi has returned home rehab roughly a week ago. I am so excited for this little girl and her future. I know that her second operation is up in the air right now due to COVID-19, but I am hopeful that everything will work out and she will continue to receive more care.
I wanted to share with you her progress as I feel she is a light, and her story should make you hopeful throughout your entire life. Quarantine and the uncertainty of medicine right now is scary but you should not be fearful, you should be faithful.
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