# 129 Limb Center

Walking for the first time in 12 years with her family,
Shabna  glows with delight

tattered braces will be replaced for this young Polio patient

young boy with his parents gets new braces that fit

two  very happy Polio patients receive the gift of walking

“They come in crawling and leave walking”! 

The motto for this limb camp.  Unlike the Jiapur Limb center we went to last year, this 5 day event brought hundreds of patients to Calcutta to receive free artificial limbs and calipers or braces as we call them.  Sponsored by several Rotary clubs in Calcutta,  Many traveled great distances to have the opportunity to walk for the first time in many years or to replace braces that they had long outgrown.

What an exciting opportunity to see two girls walk for the first time since contracting Polio many years earlier, both girls were teenagers who contracted Polio at the age of six and seven respectively.   Both very unsteady but both so very happy and excited to start this new chapter in their lives. They could hardly contain their joy, beaming with pride; they brought tears to many eyes.   I had the opportunity to hold one of the girl’s hand while she took one of those first steps to the her new life, where she stands tall looking eye to eye rather than looking up, pitied for her situation.  Her parents and brother all so proud for her accomplishment.

Another young man from Dhanbad (a 6 hour drive), 21 years old, could walk, but it required him to hold his right leg to move it forward.  Today he received his brace and can walk without the aid of his hand, thus giving him the opportunity to hold other items when he walks.  There were several young children having new braces fitted to replace those that they had outgrown and other being fitted for prosthetics after amputations because the deformities were too great to correct with braces.