Ana Maria Sarduy came to CIMEQ in 2019 for relief. Relief from pain, relief from restricted movement, and relief from the burden that joint pain can inflict on a daily basis.

In 2009, Ana was on her way to work and tripped over a hole in the sidewalk. She landed directly on her right knee. For the next ten years, the pain increased. It was hard to sleep with pain radiating up her entire body. After sleep came, the next morning required extensive stretching to be able to move. She began to lose hope. Finally unable to continue her work as an accountant, she needed something to change.

In 2019, Operation Walk Los Angeles had a mission to CIMEQ and Ana found the help she had prayed for. She had surgery and said that the surgery completely changed her life. “There was no pain.  I could walk through my neighborhood, walk up the stairs.” But unfortunately, years of compensating for her right knee had done damage to the left. She contacted Operation Walk and hoped that we would be able to return and provide the surgery she needed.

After three years of waiting, Ana got the message of Operation Walk’s return. She was placed on the screening list and cleared for a left knee replacement. She remembered many of the volunteers she had met in 2019 and said it was like seeing old friends. She recovered quickly from her surgery and was discharged in just a little over 24 hours. Ana can’t wait to take her grandchildren to a theme park and is excited for what life has to offer.

Below is a letter of thanks that Ana Maria wrote to both our volunteers and the Angels who allowed her to have both of her surgeries. She wanted them to know that they are forever in her heart.

“I, Ana Maria Sarduy, would like to thank you all because I had my right knee operated on at CIMEQ hospital and now, in 2022, I was operated on at Fructuoso Rodríguez hospital. And in both operations I felt the greatest joy a human being can feel: being able to walk again.

I want to reflect on the gratitude I feel towards all of you, for what you do on a daily basis for us patients, a labor so humane and beautiful. Keep up the great and necessary work. Thank you for showing so much humanity and love.

Thank you for so much love and humanity. You will always have from me and my family eternal gratitude and our respect. Congratulations, thank you, and blessings.

May God bless you always .”

– Ana Maria Sarduy

“A life in pain, is no life at all.”

A simple statement but one that gets straight to the point.

After two and a half years of correspondence, I sit in a room with Pedro and his wife Ayda, a day before surgery. I’ve just asked the question, “What are you most looking forward to after your hip replacements?” Ayda’s answer was swift and without hesitation. After her initial thought, she continued, “I want to walk normally again. I want to feel like myself. I just want to play with my grandson.”

Pedro agreed. “I don’t want to see her in pain anymore, struggling to walk. I don’t want to be in pain anymore, to have to depend on our son and our neighbors to do the simplest of tasks; going to the bank, picking up groceries, cleaning our home.”

Pedro and Ayda met 47 years ago and this May they will have been married 46 years. They made their home in Cardenas, along the coast of Cuba, have two children Harold and Hánele and now three grandchildren. Ayda worked as a professor of athletics at the University, eventually becoming a massage therapist specializing in sports medicine. Pedro built his career in the hospitality industry starting as a busboy, moving to waiter, and eventually working the front desk.

Both suffered the effects of repetitive stress on their joints due to the nature of their jobs. This stress took a toll on their joints, primarily their hips. Ayda needed her left hip replaced and Pedro needed bilateral surgery. They had been searching for years for an answer, as implants were almost impossible to find in Cuba. One evening in 2019, Pedro says they saw a story about how an American-based non-profit, Operation Walk, was coordinating with Hospital Fructuoso Rodriguez in Havana to replace hips and knees. Their excitement soon changed to disappointment, discovering that the team was on the way back to the United States and that they had missed their opportunity.

This began Pedro’s journey to contact Operation Walk and find a way to get both himself and his wife on the screening list. He faithfully wrote our Los Angeles chapter as well as Dr. Jared Roberts from Operation Walk Albany. Pedro was put in contact with Dr. Roberto Balmaseda and his team, and after waiting almost three years, was screened by our team of volunteers.

That week in April was one that Pedro says changed both of their lives. “To be free of the grinding pain that haunts every step. To see your wife smiling again, a true smile. That is the miracle we hoped for.”

Both Pedro and Ayda received a left hip replacement and are now together on the road to recovery. Recently, they made the two-and-a-half-hour journey to Hospital Fructuoso with their son Harold for their two-week check-up with Dr. Balamseda. Pedro sent me a message that evening to update me on their progress and shared a few thoughts. This is how he concluded:

“We remembered all of you through the corridors and rooms.
We continue and will continue to be grateful to Operation Walk and the Fructuoso team because we have already shown not only improvement, but also mobility and the desire to run into our future.
A hug for all, from the two of us,

Ayda and Pedro”.

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.