By Cami Ward, Social Media Coordinator
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 to 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.