This is a real life story.
There was a group of folks in Arequipa Peru who wanted to help their 17 year old boy get a prosthetic leg. The boy’s name was Jose Hugo.
One year prior Jose had had an amputation of his left leg above the knee for the treatment of Osteosarcoma cancer. He had been given 6 months to live. His amputation and subsequent treatment was successful. One year later he was healthy and free of cancer but could not walk because of his amputated leg. In his part of Peru, getting a prosthesis with his means was virtually impossible. In an act of desperation the family sent an email to folks they knew in the medical field. They sent it to one person who sent it to another and then to another and another. Eventually it reached my friend and mentor Ralph Kuon MD who sent it to me. He said, ” Steven any ideas?”
Upon reading the email in January of this year I thought there was no possible way that I could help this boy. It just didn’t seem likely that I’d be able to coordinate the measuring, building, and shipping (to a remote area) a custom made prosthetic leg. I don’t know why I thought it was a hopeless situation but I did. A couple of months later I received another email once again asking for help. One day sometime in April after my birthday it came to me. I thought, “why would this not be possible”. Why not give this project a fighting chance? At that time I was feeling very positive about my personal blessings including my health, family and friends. I also feel that God had said to me “Steve you can do this; be of service to those people in need”. Perhaps helping Jose Hugo was not so impossible. I started making some calls and sending emails to see if I could get some help with the prosthesis. Chad Marquis from Scope Orthotics in Orange replied one day. He said, “no prob, I can build it”.