On August 14, 2023, Operation Walk Los Angeles team members OR nurse, Jocelyn (“JC”) Chow RN, and anesthesiologist, Dr. Jonathan Weiss had the pleasure and honor of taking care of 39-year-old Amina Msuya.

At the age of 9, Amina suffered a debilitating fracture. While walking to school, there was a tremendous flood in her village causing a rock to tumble down the hillside, colliding into her and damaging her right knee. Amina shared that her parents were unable to afford surgery to repair the damage and help was unavailable to her in Tanzania. The cost of the surgery alone was over $3500, an amount her family could not afford.

For the last 30 years, Amina has suffered debilitating pain, using the aid of a crutch to walk. As an elementary school teacher, responsible for children ages 7 to 10, and as a mother of 3 children of her own, day-to-day life was a challenge.

At the beginning of 2023, Amina was notified on a WhatsApp chat about a planned Operation Walk trip to Arusha in August. Amina and her husband traveled 2 days by bus to get x-rays and she was evaluated by local physicians at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre. After her exam, she returned home and waited, hoping for a miracle.

After 2 months, she received the good news. Amina was selected to return to the hospital for further examination and evaluation by the Operation Walk team. This exam would determine if she would be one of the fortunate few to receive life-changing knee replacement surgery.

Amina made her 2-day return journey to the hospital. After her evaluation, she was placed on the OR schedule for August 14.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit her after surgery. Immediately post-op, she shared she was relieved of the crippling pain she had suffered for 30 years, beginning child, continuing through adulthood, and into motherhood.

We’ve stayed in touch with Amina through WhatsApp, and she continues to update us on her progress. She proudly reports that she possesses mobility she has not experienced for over 30 years and thought was possible. We will continue to stay in touch with her during this period of recovery and are so happy that we were able to be a small part of her experience with Operation Walk.

Jocelyn Chow RN and Dr. Jonathan Weiss
Operation Walk Los Angeles Volunteers