“As we prepare for patient screening this month, I wanted to share my mom, Melanie Rimando’s story.
My mother first started feeling severe pain in both knees in 2015. For as long as my brother and I can remember, she worked tirelessly to give us a comfortable life. But commuting to work every day in the Philippines is a brutal ordeal. Six days a week, she endured over three hours of daily travel. She had to run to catch buses and jeeps, get bumped around in massive crowds, and struggle to keep her balance while standing inside packed vehicles. The commute was so rough that she would sometimes lose her footing, falling knee-first onto the floor or violently slamming her knees against the hard metal seats and other passengers.
She endured all of that without a single complaint, secretly pushing through the agony just to show up for us. Eventually, the pain intensified so much that she could no longer work on-site. Over the last decade, her condition progressively worsened. Today, in 2026, our once-active mother is now mostly wheelchair-bound and cannot walk without assistance because of severe, bone-on-bone pain that she rates a 10 out of 10.
We took her to the doctors and X-rays confirmed she has bilateral end-stage osteoarthritis. But for a normal family in the Philippines, a double knee replacement costs an absolute fortune and is a financial impossibility. We felt completely helpless watching her suffer.
One night in November 2025, I couldn’t sleep. The image of my mother’s excruciating pain kept me awake. I spent the entire night researching alternatives like joint injections, only to find out that a full replacement was her only hope. It was a sleepless night, but it was the least I could do for my mother. She did everything in her power so we could run, even if it meant losing her ability to walk. That was the night I stumbled upon Operation Walk.
Finding your organization instantly brought hope back into our lives. I messaged the page right away to share her story, and a few days later, Miss Cami Ward replied with the life-changing news about the upcoming July 2026 mission at St. Elizabeth Hospital. Right now, we are looking forward to the final screening, which is happening in less than two weeks and doing our absolute best to keep her healthy and ready for it.
This mission is truly the answer to a decade of prayers. I love my mom so much, and words cannot express how grateful we are that Operation Walk is giving her a second chance at a pain-free life.”
Thomas Alfonso Ng