Eight year old gets back legs with I.H.C. help
What happens to children when they are gravely ill and tertiary level care is not available in the country? Many turn to the International Hospital for Children. The I.H.C. offers critical surgical care to persons up to the age of twenty-one and has been facilitating referrals from Belize to the U.S. for specialized medical care. Eight year old Rashale Arana has been battling with cancer and seven months ago the hospital stepped in and referred her to the U.S. The hospital’s representative in Belize gave News Five’s Jose Sanchez an update on Arana’s recovery.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
International Hospital for Children has been in Belize for six years. Milagro Garel, the hospital’s representative, says that the organization has been helping as many children as they can, and eight year old Rashale Arana is one of their successful cases.
Milagro Garel, Representative, Children’s Int’l Hospital
“We have been working jointly with Friends of Paediatrics through Edward Grinage and he is the one who is of local support to us in Belize. As a result of our work in Belize, we have been taking U.S. referrals like Rashale Arana. She is the first patient that we have taken that is suffering from a condition known as Osteosarcoma.”
Jose Sanchez
“What is that exactly?”
Milagro Garel
“It’s a type of cancer in the bone and it’s common in children maybe a little older than Rashale. Rashale comes from Silk Grass in the Stann Creek District and luckily through the Kiwani’s Club, we were able to get her to Charlotte North Carolina.”
Jose Sanchez
“How is she doing at this point?”
Milagro Garel
“We are extremely pleased that Rashale is now walking, has a new chance at life. When she was diagnosed, the resources were not available for cancer patients and we work extremely hard through Dr. Mark Mogul from Helbys’s Hospital in Charlotte North Carolina and the Ministry of Health and everybody pulled together for this little girl and she had a procedure done that is called a Rotationplasty where the bottom of her foot is placed on her knee.”
Though sick, with a disease she might not be able to spell, Rashale did not give up. She lost her legs but found courage in the doctor who made her a new pair. Steve Miller, her Prosthetician, also lost a leg.
Rashale Arana, Cancer Patient
“He jumped for me, When I saw him do that, I said that I’m going to play with my friends and stuff. I was happy to see someone that had the same surgery as me.”
Steve Miller, Prosthetician
“This is not just your normal amputation where it’s below the knee or above the knee or below the knee. You know, you’ve got things that are backwards. And the brain hasn’t gotten used to that foot being backwards and trying to use it as a knee, it’s still a foot to her. But it’s a backwards foot.”
Milagro Garel
“Rashale is just now walking so we are all excited about this new chance to this little girl.”
Since the surgery Rashale has been undergoing her second series of Chemotherapy and will return to Belize with her new pair of legs in March of 2009. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
The International Hospital for Children’s office is located at 3581 Sunrise Avenue. Garel says that if you would like more information about the work of the hospital, you can reach her at 223-7300 or 610-2606.
