Prosthetic Limbs for 50 Poor Bolivian Amputees

Our March campaign is now over and your generosity has launched us way over our first goal of getting more then 40 donors.  We also closed out the campaign with a little over $5500 which will allow us to provide limbs to one additional patient then the eight that we had initially targeted.

In case you’re curious how we apply these funds, here is a quick peek into a typical day at the clinic:

Last week we had a crazy busy day in the clinic. It felt like more and more patients just kept coming, and I wondered how we were going to handle all six patients.  

• Two of the patients have been coming in for the past few weeks to do physical therapy and prepare for their new prosthetic legs. Christian, our volunteer physical therapist from Germany, has been working hard with these two patients.  Their physical abilities have improved dramatically.
• One of these patients, who had been wheelchair-bound up until this point, finally strapped on her prosthetic leg and walked for 10 minutes. This was the first time this patient has walked since she lost her leg.  She was ecstatic!
• We also had two other previous patients back for repairs. Minor weight gain (or loss) can render their sockets very uncomfortable, and we have to make adjustments. No prosthetic leg lasts forever; a major part of our job is to maintain all previous 325 patients. 
• We also served a new patient today. He was from a city in the Amazon basin, and he was having a very difficult time with the altitude here in La Paz at 13,000 feet. The patient had to return to his hotel to rest, and he will return tomorrow.
• The last patient was missing his right arm below the elbow. Pieter, our volunteer 3D printer engineer from Belgium, eagerly measured the patient for a prosthetic arm.
• Costis, our other volunteer engineer, has been working hard to master 3D printed hands. Costis was busy today trying to invent a new mechanism to allow the hand to flex in a more useful manner.
• Last, but not least, our newest volunteer, Jacob (USA) joined us in the clinic today. Jacob's specialty is photography, and he is working on producing a new video of the center’s work.  I will report back on the video project, as soon as it is completed.

I hope this helps you to understand how critical your donations are to our work. We are so grateful for your support!

Thank you,

Matthew Pepe

Founder and President of Bolivians Without disAbilities