Disabled Orange Walk man helps others
The concept of overcoming life’s obstacles is a staple of local newscasts, but our next story is even more inspiring than most. Jacqueline Woods reports on one remarkable man from Orange Walk.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Thirty-year-old Adrian Camara looks like any typical employee, but he is not your average worker. Camara was born with no legs and has had to learn how to live a normal life as possible despite the daily challenges. For most of his life he has used a skateboard to get around, but it was not until a few years ago that he overcame one of his biggest hurdles… that is learning how to drive.
At first Camara tried to sell the Traffic Department on the idea that by holding a stick in his hand, he would have been able to safely control the vehicle’s pedals. Not surprisingly, the authorities weren’t buying. Determined to achieve his goal and with the help of some friends in the United States, Camara equipped his Cherokee Jeep with special hand controls and he was granted his driver’s license
Adrian Camara
“I can drive your vehicle with a piece of wood. I would just take a piece of wood and drive your vehicle, automatic of course. I guess it’s just the other senses that we disable people develop because I can drive you a vehicle late in the night without any lights and I know where the brakes is and I know where the accelerator is without looking at it and thing. But you know, we have to follow the rules and go along with the law, so I got my hand controls in the States and I have a driver’s license just like everybody else.
Getting other disabled persons to feel like everybody else is Camara’s next challenge. He encourages families to have their disabled loved ones be independent.
Adrian Camara
“If you have a kid that was born disable and you show that person too much, I would say pity on that person, that person will not be able to survive to his own in this world. When I was growing up in my family, I was treated like everybody else in the family. If I wanted a glass of water, I would get it myself. So I believe that is a very strong relationship that we should all carry with a person that is disable.”
Camara is an inspiration to all who have come in contact with him. He is married and has two children ages one to three years old. Today, he has taken on the added responsibility of helping other persons like himself become more functional in society.
Adrian Camara
“I mean I have had patients that would lost their job because they cannot function the way they use to. We have a police officer that lost his job because he got amputated from a hip disarticulation and that is very high amputation.”
Since 1995, Camara has been working with Project Hope Belize, a non-profit organisation that offers prosthetic care to disabled Belizeans. There are no statistics on the number of amputees in the country, but P.H.B. has helped over sixty patients. As the patient coordinator, Camara says he has seen U.S. practitioners manufacture the artificial limbs and give patients a new outlook on life.
Adrian Camara
“The prostheses come from the U.S. and they donate their time and they usually do this whenever they have vacations, so they donate their vacation to help people here. And usually we take a week to make like eight or nine prosthesis. Everything is done. After we fabricate the limb, we have fitting days, which we fit the limbs after they are fabricated. And we teach them everything, how to use it, what to do, what not to do, and it’s just a process of learning also.”
Most patients need prosthetic care after they have lost a limb, primarily due to diabetes or traffic accidents. It takes between two to three weeks for a patient to learn how to walk with the prosthesis.
Adrian Camara
“I use my legs whenever I travel or whenever I go to a party, whenever I am around a lot of people so I won’t be down here and you would be up there…I would like to join in the party.”
I have had people that would come in here and I would have to be counselling to them because you know, could you imagine going home right now and losing a leg, I mean your whole life changes. You think, oh my gosh what am I going to do later on, what’s going to happen to me, and especially that people don’t know that this work exist here. They would say how am I going to get the money from the States to get a prosthesis or some of them don’t even know that a prosthesis exist.”
Today, P.H.B. has expanded and is able to offer the service to children who require the special care.
Adrian Camara
“A child is a person that you will always need to be looking after because a child grows. Everyday that goes by his bones just grow, and whenever a limb grows the prosthesis does not fit anymore, so we have to be monitoring that because we don’t want to hurt that child or we don’t want to hurt his limb. Because whenever you put something on a limb, it can either damage the bone or give it a wrong shape.”
As the only facility in Belize, P.H.B. does the adjustments and repairs to artificial limbs and works closely with other organisations in Central America. It has a sister organisation in the United States that raises funds to help operate the business. Additional monies come from the Social Security Board, which refers its employment injury cases to P.H.B.
Adrian Camara
“We would ask the country of Belize to join in and help this project go up because it’s something that I think everybody would need especially here because you could never say when you would be getting into an accident.”
As a child, Camara never had the option of wearing an artificial limb, but is happy that through his efforts he’ll help patients both young and old learn how to walk all over again. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Adrian Camara is trained to repair artificial limbs and is completing courses to qualify as a prosthetic technician. Another U.S. team of prosthetic practitioners is scheduled to visit the country in March. If you know of a child that is need of an artificial limb you are asked to contact Adrian Camara at telephone number 603-1139 or Johnny Avila at 322-3024. P.H.B. is situated at number fifty-seven Belize/Corozal Road in Orange Walk Town.
