News About Lucy

Lucy is a 10-year old girl with physical disabilities that has been receiving assistance from the Silas Christian Foundation. Lucy's parents have not been able to keep up with the medical costs associated with the nerve damage at the root of Lucy's problems, but Lahash donors have ensured that she gets the help she needs.

Dan recently posted that Lucy was discharged from the hospital, but unfortunately that didn't go through as everyone expected. In fact, her condition only has gotten worse. She was a patient in the Eldoret hospital for almost 3 weeks for treatment of Malaria and seriously infected sores on her legs. The sores were caused by the braces she wears (pictured below right) because she is unable to walk by herself due to her damaged nerves -- she was a conjoined twin separated as an infant, and the nerve damage was caused by the separation surgery.

The doctors decided Lucy needed a skin graft to repair the severely affected areas. Sadly, the care she received during the three weeks was often quite poor and the sores became even more infected and the graft kept being postponed. It looked more and more like Lucy's condition would continue deteriorating with little hope for improvement.

Finally, Nick and Dr. Oronje decided to transfer her to the AIC Hospital in Kijabe, where she has received excellent care in the past. The hope was that in Kijabe, she would at last get the proper attention she deserved. She was discharged from the Eldoret hospital Thursday and traveled to Kijabe on an overnight bus ride (the trip can often take up to 8 hours).

She arrived in Kijabe Friday morning and was seen by doctors at the hospital. They decided the bacterial infection had to be eliminated before a skin graft could be attempted. Fortunately, the treatment of the infection can be done at home by her mother Monicah, who was shown the proper way to treat and clean the sores. Lucy received antibiotics and medication to ensure the quickest recovery. In another month, the situation will be reevaluated and if she is ready, Lucy will get the skin graft. Since she won't be able to attend school in the meantime, Nick has arranged for her to work on homework and assignments from home.

Please remember Lucy and her family as they try to get past this problem. It's been a deeply discouraging experience for everyone involved, including Nick, because so much of the suffering was unnecessary. Nevertheless, now there is a new optimism that things will improve for Lucy.