Lynn Cole

DIDIM Help-in-Hands attended a seminar presented by a team of professionals from Istanbul specializing in corrective surgery for children with cerebral palsy.

The team met with 10 families including Mustafa Kemal’s family to assess the children and to discuss further treatments.

Unfortunately children with this illness need a number of operations during their developing years.

These included shoulder and spinal realignment, hip reconstruction, knee and ankle straightening and the lengthening the tendons to reduce permanent tightening of the muscles. Much depends upon the severity of the illness. The earlier the child gets treatment the greater the chance of success.

The team have agreed to perform the procedures in Mugla as traveling to Istanbul for the operations and follow-ups puts too much strain on the child and the parents.

The cost to Help-in-Hands for Mustafa’s operation is to cover the usage of the hospital theater, and medication.

The professors and surgeons will be giving their time for free which was wonderful news.

A number of children also attending the seminar had already had some corrective surgery and the improvement to their ability to walk and sit upright was both remarkable and barely believable.

This groundbreaking surgery is life changing not only for the child but for the parents, and seeing their faces made it all worthwhile.