La Paz, Bolivia -- Jennifer Scroggins, ReSurge's assistant director of communications
Many of you will remember Fabio, a patient we wrote about in 2011 who had been in a terrible car accident that had almost cost him his right arm. When he came to our volunteer surgical team and to Dr. Jorge Terrazas, our surgical partner here in Bolivia, he had already had eight surgeries to save his arm. However, he had no functionality in his hand. His fingers couldn't move and he couldn't use the hand to write, carry or pick up things.
I was absolutely delighted when I met Fabio on clinic day this year, and he proudly showed us how he can now open and close his fingers. But more importantly, he showed me how he can now pick things up and bear weight with the hand. After his accident, Fabio fell into a depression, thinking he would never be able to use his dominant hand again. But now, after two surgeries from ReSurge, he has started his own company installing gas lines, and says he regularly picks up heavy pipes and other equipment with no problem because of the surgery he received from us.
He also got married four months ago and seems absolutely smitten with his new wife, Miriam, whom he met after the accident and who was there at the hospital to care for him after our volunteer surgical team performed a second surgery on his hand last year. He says that time last year was the moment when he knew she was "the one."
It was incredibly inspiring for me to meet and talk with Fabio, who says he is more grateful to our ReSurge community for the care he has received than he can express in words. I recorded a video of my interview with him, which I am eager to share once we add subtitles. Stay tuned for that and more!
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