Jade was 14 years old when her healthy life took an unexpected turn. Her symptoms started with drooling, blurred speech, being tired all the time, and a loss of balance. As a young teenager she found herself embarrassed and unwilling to talk about her symptoms with others. She was scared and unsure of what was going on with her health. It wasn’t until she was physically unable to eat her dinner one night that her mom took her to the hospital.
The distance between Philadelphia and Fort-Liberté, Haiti, is more than 1,450 miles, and the two cities are worlds apart in many other ways, as well; but Deacon Alynx Benardin’s commitment to serve his parish and complete his path to ordination as a Catholic priest inspired others to help span that gap. Despite distance, language barriers, and pandemic travel complications, the arm Benardin lost in a vehicle accident in Haiti was successfully replaced with an above-elbow prosthesis and hand created in Philadelphia in 2020 by Lawall.
Although every patient is unique, with individual issues, conditions, preferences and needs like no other, Pennsylvania hairdresser Grace Corbitt presented Lawall orthotist Juan Cave with a challenge that required him to think even further outside the box than usual in developing a custom designed orthotic solution.
What type of individual is quoted in his medical chart as replying “all things considered doing pretty well” as he is being rushed into an ER after having his leg traumatically severed following a motorcycle accident? The same person who now proudly wears a t-shirt stating “Some Assembly Required” Hamilton Township Patrolman Robert Whartenby is a motivated individual with a fantastic perspective on life.
Malachi Stone was hospitalized with Pneumococcal pneumonia when he was 2 years old. Pneumococcal pneumonia is a form of pneumonia that infects the upper respiratory tract. It can then travel to the blood, lungs, ears or nervous system. It is most dangerous for children under 5 and adults over 65. For Malachi, it resulted in end stage kidney failure. Aside from being on dialysis several times a week, he also had both of his legs amputated below the knee, his left arm amputated below the elbow and several of his digits on his right hand amputated. Initially, Malachi was fit with prostheses after his amputations, but he seldom used them. He was constantly tired and the degree of swelling in his legs was always fluctuating.
In the summer of 2011, 13-year-old Larry Jackson, Jr. of Boothwynn, PA sprained his ankle while playing baseball. It seemed like just a minor injury, but soon afterwards the area around the ankle began to swell. At first his family attributed the puffiness to the sprain, but after a couple weeks of continued swelling they became more concerned and took him to see a podiatrist. After examining Larry, Jr. the doctor was equally concerned and referred him to Dr. Dormans, the chief of orthopedic surgery who specializes in spine and tumor cases. Dr. Dormans diagnosed him with Ewing sarcoma and within a month, he was admitted to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to undergo intensive chemotherapy treatments.
