The World Medical Mission team replaced Vincente’s homemade leg with a prosthetic limb.

New Limbs, New Hope

Prosthetics bring joy to people with physical challenges

Airport security sprang into action when X-rays revealed what appeared to be human feet in two carry-on bags.

“The TSA folks nearly freaked out when they saw the prosthetic feet we were carrying,” said Bill Wright, a biomedical technician with Samaritan’s Purse. “My son, Brent, told the agents not to pinch the toes.”

The feet were part of a shipment of artificial limbs that Bill and a team of orthotic and prosthetic technicians were taking to Guatemala on behalf of World Medical Mission. Brent Wright and Eddie White from Beacon Prosthetics and Orthotics in Raleigh, North Carolina, accompanied him on the trip to fabricate and fit artificial limbs at Shalom Hospital, a missionary medical facility in the poverty-stricken province of Peten.

During their time in Guatemala, they were able to give renewed hope to people struggling to cope with physical limitations.

“An older gentleman named Vincente came in on a homemade leg that he carved out of wood,” Brent Wright said. “The foot was in awful shape from all the places he had walked. To keep the tree-hewn leg from chafing his stump, he lined and stuffed it with cloth and plastic grocery bags. We found out that even at 72 years of age, with his homemade prosthesis, he still hauled 50 pounds of firewood on his back to his house daily. We had to bring in the Queche-speaking nurse to communicate with him, but smiles speak a thousand words. The man was absolutely delighted with his new leg.”

As the day progressed they saw a 19-year-old who lost a leg to cancer, another man whose leg was crushed in a motorcycle accident, and a 7-year-old girl who was born with a withered leg.

The cancer patient’s leg presented special challenges because he did not have a hip joint. Brent fashioned a limb using two knee joints, one to simulate a hip when the patient sits and the other one to serve as a regular knee for walking.

“We all participated in the fabrication of the limb, but it was all a miracle,” Bill said.

José, a 24-year-old fireman, had lost a leg a year ago after it was crushed against a wall by a truck. He was fitted with a prosthetic limb, and Brent and Eddie showed him how to walk again. José walked out of Shalom Hospital with a new leg and a huge smile.

The team also visited a small wheelchair manufacturing company in Antiqua. The company employs physically-challenged people to help make wheelchairs for children. Two of the workers had prosthetic limbs that were giving them problems.

One man in his early 20s lost both legs when he was 13. He fell beneath the wheels of the freight train he was trying climb aboard for a ride into the United States. Brent added some padding and made adjustments to the troublesome limbs.

“The young man quickly stood up and walked around with a big smile,” Bill said. “Later, he was outside with some spray paint, standing at his work site.”

The biomedical team at World Medical Mission provides technical support for a variety of projects, from refurbishing and installing donated equipment in remote mission hospitals, to assisting with the delivery and fitting of prosthetic limbs.

“It’s priceless to see a person’s life change so radically,” Bill said after seeing the joy of those they ministered to in Guatemala. “How much more should we appreciate our salvation!”