Will My Baby Ever Walk?

We first met baby Luis when he was just 5 days old! We’d been asked to come to a clinic by his mother, Luz, to see if we could help. That’s when we saw his club feet for the first time. “The day my son was born,” recalled Luz, “I heard one doctor say to the other, ‘Look at this.’ Then I saw my baby’s feet and started crying. I wondered if my son would ever be able to walk.”   

Nine year old Luria, the baby’s sister, told us what she remembers. “I am happy because I have a little brother. But I worried about his feet. Sometimes I cried a lot. But mom told me that he was going to be ok,” she said with a brave smile.  

The children’s mother is a single parent. To support them she works part-time as a seamstress in her sister's shop. She told us she spent the last of her savings to travel to the specialist where we met her.    

“When I took him to the specialist he told me that there was a solution, but now was the right time to intervene. Then he told me the cost of the surgery and it was very expensive. I was praying to the Lord for help, because I had no way to pay that much for an operation,” Luz told CBN. 

That’s when the doctor mentioned that Operation Blessing might be able to help.

We met with Luz and the surgeon at the clinic and one month later we shared the good news with Luz and her daughter that Operation Blessing partners would pay for her son to receive free treatment and surgery.  

“I am hoping that my brother's feet will be fine!” declared sister Lauri. 

In a procedure known as the Ponseti system, Luis’ feet were put into casts. Because he was so young and his bones are so pliable, they only needed to cast him for 3 weeks. A minor surgery followed. Then to keep the feet aligned, he’ll wear these corrective boots connected with a rod.    

At the end of 3 months, we went back and found Luis’ feet had straightened significantly, with a prognosis for complete recovery by the time he starts to walk.

“Thank you to all the people who helped him,” said Lauri.  

“I feel so happy, I don't know how to express it,” added the grateful mother, smiling and wiping tears from her eyes. “This is the help I wanted most for my son! If the people who helped me were here in front of me I would hug them! Thank you very much!