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Stories of Impact: Meet Ruth

Nia • Nov 10, 2016

A well-fitting prosthesis has the power to transform a life.

Mobility devices offer children and youth with disabilities hope, opportunity, and the chance to fulfill their dreams. They also offer a way to contest stigma and give hope and better health to some of the world’s poorest children and youth with disabilities, like Ruth Nakaye in Uganda.

 

Ruth is a bright and lively 21-year old student in Kampala. Born with a congenital condition, Ruth has one leg shorter than the other. Traditionally in Africa, children with partial or missing limbs were outcast as abnormal. Fortunately attitudes are changing and when children like Ruth are fitted with a mobility device, they have a chance to show the world what they can do.

 

At the age of 8, Ruth underwent surgery to remove part of her shorter leg so that she could be fitted with her first prosthetic limb. Although her mother and friends had always been supportive, with her new-found mobility she noticed that others became more accepting of her.

 

In 2015, Ruth was one of the first people in the world to be fitted with a 3DPA prosthetic socket at CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital in Entebbe.

 

She thinks that 3D PrintAbility could help many more people like her because the design and production process is faster than other methods. What this means in her life is that she misses only 1 day of school instead of the 5 days she used to miss when a plaster-cast device was made for her using the conventional manual process. She knows from experience that faster production will save families time and money.

 

Ruth is part of Nia’s 2016 3D PrintAbility study at CoRSU and is testing out a new 3D printed prosthetic socket. Her early assessment is that it feels lighter, softer, and more flexible than a traditional prosthetic.

 

Ruth’s attitude to life: “I can do anything.”

Healing the wounds and trauma of the war in Ukraine

By Melanie Meloche-Holubowski, Radio Canada • 23 Feb, 2024
In Lviv, the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center has already treated more than 16,000 wounded civilians and soldiers, including 2,000 children. More than 100,000 surgeries have been done. "Everyone is on adrenaline. Everyone is motivated. We are in survival mode. We do it because our friends, our parents, our husbands are on the battlefield", says M aryana Svirchuk from Unbroken . It is estimated that more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians and 70,000 soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. Nearly 19,000 civilians and 100,000 soldiers were reportedly injured. When the war began, the regional civilian hospital had to quickly change course to meet demand, but the staff had little experience in treating war wounds. In addition, the city's hospital has had to adapt to a very large volume of new patients – thousands of Ukrainians who have fled the fighting in the west to settle in Lviv. ...... For the complete story, please follow this link .

A Canadian-donated 3D printer is making artificial limbs for Ukrainian soldiers so they can walk, run – and fight again

By The Globe and Mail - Eric Reguly • 29 Oct, 2023
Amid the tragedies of the war in Ukraine , t here are small victories, small incidents of hope that inspire and rally the defenders. One of those moments came on Sunday in Kyiv, when war amputees fitted with prosthetic legs took part in a charity race that made crowds cheer with pride.  The race, organized by the Nova Post express delivery company and billed as the “World’s Longest Marathon” – a reference to the 3,359 days that have passed since the war started with Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 – included 15 amputees who were given new limbs in the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center at St. Panteleimon hospital in Lviv. One of them, Serhii Yevtushenko, walked and ran his one-kilometre event with a prosthesis made from a Canadian-donated 3D printer that was recently installed at Unbroken. “I had no problem with my new Canadian leg,” he told The Globe and Mail after the race. “Morally, this event felt good and I would like to thank Canada.” ...... For the complete story, please follow this link .
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