The first time I met Maria Blanco Rodriguez, there was a lot of activity swirling around us. It was screening day, a time when our team evaluates each patient. These screenings help us to identify who the best candidates are for surgery, both orthopedically and medically.

During the screening process, each patient has their photo taken with their OPWalk number and medical file. These photos are placed in the patient’s file and used to help confirm patient identification during these first few critical hours. I had processed Maria’s photo and went to the patient waiting area to place it in her file. I identified her right away and explained that I was going to add her photograph to her file. I asked her why she didn’t have a smile for the camera and she explained that she hadn’t smiled in a long time. For nine long years, she’d been coping with excruciating pain in her right hip. This pain made it difficult for her to catch the bus each day to her job as a house cleaner. Once she arrived at work, her ability to complete her daily tasks was almost non-existent. She confided that she didn’t think she would be able to go on much longer and worried about what would happen to her and her three children.

“How can I support my family? I can’t sleep, I can’t walk to the bus, I can’t work. I’m so tired and I’m afraid that you won’t be able to help me.”

I gave Maria a hug and reassured her. As she left our waiting area and entered the screening room, I said a silent prayer that she’d be healthy enough to be selected for surgery.

Fast-forward two days and I witnessed a completely different Maria. She’d received her hip replacement on Friday afternoon, and by Saturday morning, she was walking down the hall with our physical therapy team. What made the biggest impact on me was the smile now in permanent residence on her face. Maria told me that she felt strong and confident for the first time in years. She proudly shared she was doing so well with her recovery that she would get to return that afternoon to her children.

Maria Blanco came to us sad and withdrawn, uncertain of her future and the future of her family. Two days later, she assured me that she was leaving with hope in her heart.

“Operation Walk is the best thing that has happened to me. I am so grateful that they came to Cuba.”

Pabel Machado Miranda has become accustomed to pain. For the past fifteen years, he’s dealt with pain radiating from his left hip. He told us that it was no surprise he was having difficulty walking. He proudly announced that he was a twin and that his twin brother had received a hip replacement years earlier. Pabel said he knew it was only a matter of time until his turn would come too.

Pabel is a civil engineer, a job he loves, but now says that he is chained to his desk. Due to his pain and limited mobility, it’s impossible for him to go out into the field to survey his projects. With his wife Lisa by his side, Pabel told us that he longed to be able to do the simple things in life: tie his own shoes, get dressed in the morning, cross his legs as he sat at his desk, and to be able to go for walks with his wife. He mentioned his love of baseball, something that he hasn’t been able to play since he was a teenager. “To be able to play again, to hit the ball, to run the bases….that is my dream.”

Pabel received his hip replacement on Saturday morning and by Sunday afternoon was ready to return home. During his stay, both he and Lisa made a big impact on the other patients. Both spoke English and helped to interpret instructions and words of encouragement from our volunteers as his fellow patients took their own path to recovery.

As Pabel was getting ready to leave the hospital, he wanted each volunteer and donor to know one thing: “The joy and gratitude both my wife and I feel are beyond words. This surgery will change my life.”

Last spring, we received a poignant email from Aisnara Perera Diaz. Aisnara had a hip replacement in 1988 after a devastating car accident at the age of 21. Throughout the next thirty years, Aisnara suffered four dislocations of her implant. After the last incident, she was told that it was no longer possible to get a replacement prosthesis due to the serious economic problems facing her country.

Knowing the history that Operation Walk had with her surgeons and CIMEQ, she turned to us for help. She explained her situation and that without the revision surgery she so desperately needed, she’d no longer be able to work. Despite her limitations, Aisnara was able to obtain a PhD in History from the University of Havana, and has been able to engage in a professional life, reflecting on scientific articles, authoring over a dozen books, and giving conferences given in Mexico, Brazil, and Portugal. To date she has published 15 books, several of which are on the Harvard syllabus.

Upon receiving her request, our director, Jeri Ward, set to work. She shared Aisnara’s situation, medical history, and X-Rays with our team of volunteers and surgeon, William Long, who was confident that he could restore Aisnara’s mobility. Proper implants and instruments were brought with the team and although it was a lengthy process, Aisnara’s surgery was a success.

Aisnara has a long recovery process ahead of her, but with the help of our physical therapists, she now has the tools she needs. Below is a letter of gratitude that we received. We admire Aisnara’s courage and determination to continue to live her best life and look forward to receiving updates about her continuing recovery.

“Sometimes adversity brings our lives to people whose existence has the power to change things and make us create miracles. A few months ago, I headed to the operation walk with the soul awed and without hope to be able to walk due to a lack of a prosthesis for my hip. The answer I received then brought relief to my anguish, and my destiny was marked by a date: November. Since that moment, I prepared for surgery that would be very complicated, a challenge for the doctor who had accepted the challenge of placing a fourth prosthesis. I confess now that I was not prepared for the deployment of affection, professional treatment and human interest I received from the detailed explanation of the procedure offered by Dr. William Long, to the dedication of nurses, physiotherapists and translators, each of them put knowledge, skills and love for me, and many others, to have again the possibility to do for ourselves the most everyday acts of daily life. Dr. Long was next to my bed following my evolution and offering me tips for the future, always getting ready to perform, forcing me to physical pain, the exercises that would make my legs obey my mind. This interest proves that it is not just a qualified Surgeon but an exceptional human being.

For all the volunteers who collaborate with the Operation Walk, some young and other experienced professionals in their work areas, will be my eternal gratitude. They form a great team of amazing human beings, they came to the life of all of us when we needed them most without asking for anything in return, giving us support, affection and encouragement Our gratitude also for all those who financially support these missions, is a project that demands great resources. Those who decide to collaborate with the altruistic task that operation walk performs in countries like ours make the difference in this world so needy of actions that return quality of life and provide physical and mental well-being. Thank you for existing, thank you for being, thank you for not giving up, for perseverance and conviction that there is nothing impossible.”

Aisnara Perera Diaz.
Cuba, November, 2019.