Heartaches of India

This little girl suffered with polio. She came into our clinic with her mother, walking on her ankle with the sole of her foot turned upward. (As usual), with high hopes, I asked our translator what it would cost to have surgery done. He told me (sadly), "About $3000". A local nurse explained to me that it was the result of polio and the degeneration of the sciatic nerve. She said it would take major surgery and a brace to make her "normal". This is just one of the sad results of an impoverished nation unable to properly care for the children and the poor. Our first patient in the first clinic had been a baby with a hole in its heart, already struggling to breathe. These are the pictures of pain and suffering that you carry home with you, rarely forgotten.