What we do in life, we often do for our children. This was 34-year-old Yasmany Arcia’s motivation to seek help. Yasmany works as a rancher and for the past three years, he’s been unable to fully tend to his ranch because of the piercing pain in his right hip. A typical day has him on horseback for hours and recently he hasn’t been able to ride. Not being able to ride, tend to his cattle, and take care of his ranch has been a great setback. His hip greatly affected his sleep. Due to the pain, it was difficult to lie down and rest, which is crucial do being able to perform his duties on the ranch. The worst part to Yasmany was that he was unable to play with his little girl. At age five, Astri didn’t understand why her father couldn’t play with her and was in constant pain. Desperate, he looked to Operation Walk for help.

Walking into patient screening, Yasmany had a shy smile. He was very nervous and that sent his blood pressure up. Our team was worried that he might not be able to qualify for surgery, but our nurses sent him in to be examined by our screening team and said they would retake his vitals after he had spoken to our doctors. You could see relief spread across his face as he walked with the aid of crutches into the screening room. After speaking to our volunteers, he was more at ease and was medically cleared for surgery. In fact, he was our first patient in the operating room.

Yasmany’s surgery went flawlessly. Not only was he the first patient operated, he was the first patient up and walking, and the first to request to write a thank you to the Angels that made his operation possible.

“I want to let my Angel know that they have changed my life. My pain is less and I have hope for the future. Thank you Operation Walk, to the doctors and nurses, and to those who give to help people like me.”

Another first, Yasmany was the first patient to be discharged to return home from the hospital. Thank you for helping Operation Walk to restore mobility to Yasmany and return his mobility, his independence, and his life.

Arsenio has an intriging story. In 2019 when the Albany and Los Angeles chapters of Operation Walk were on their first mission to Hospital Fructuoso Rodriguez, Arcenio was admitted a few floors away. He had been in a traumatic motorcycle accident leaving him with multiple broken bones in his pelvis and both legs. He had a long and arduous recovery process, ultimately losing his left leg and requiring a prosthetic.

Dr. Eric Bassler sited this case as one of the most interesting and challenging of our mission.

“The most memoralbe surgery I was involved with was with a gentleman who was in a terrible accident some years ago. He had a left above knee amputation with no hip joint remaining on one side. On the operative side he had suffered a hip fracture that healed very poorly. He hadn’t been able to walk for over a year. We did a right total hip replacement on him and he was walking up the stairs on post-op day one for the first time in years. We could immedatily see the life changing impact this surgery had.”

Despite all he has been through, Arsenio came to us with the best attitude. As Dr. Bassler noted, the morning after his surgery, Arcenio popped up out of bed, and walked down the hall and up the stairs. His positive attitude was infectious, encouraging several other patients to get up, walk down the hall, and practice taking the stairs as well. Arsenio was discharged soon after and returned to his family, his mobility restored and the rest of his life ahead of him.

Yesterday I walked without the crutches without realizing it: I sent Paulina, one of the nurses from your team who helped me after surgery, a video today to show her my progress and I want to share it with you.

I want to tell my story, of how I was placed on the screening list for hip replacement at Hospital Fructuoso and blessed with surgery by Operation Walk Los Angeles.

I suffered from Perthes Syndrome since I was 4 years old. Perthes’ disease is an uncommon condition affecting children between the ages of three and 11 years. Blood supply to the head of the thigh bone is disrupted which causes the bone to deteriorate. This can cause pain, limping and limited movement. Walking has been a struggle for me most of my life. I didn’t have intense pain but my life was very limited. My restricted mobility made it difficult to do housework, limiting me to just cooking and other short tasks. If I went for a walk or spent a lot of time working at the hairdresser’s the joint often felt inflamed and the pain would linger long after I rested.

Fourteen years ago after a pregnancy loss, my right hip collapsed and flattened out the neck of my femur. Since then, I was waiting for surgery at Frank País Orthopedic Hospital, but my doctor recommended postponing it due to the poor durability of the prostheses that was available.

Last year my husband had an accident and that’s how I met Dr. Amelia. I told her about my condition and she told me about your program. Thanks to God, to all of you and the Fructuoso team I was selected as a pre-candidate to be placed on the screening list. If and when I rejoin my profession as a hair stylist I have a modest living room at home that I can work from.

Thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to be in the hands of such talented and loving professionals and to all those who donate so that many like me can have a better quality of life.