Assisting Samuel

Many of you have heard the story of Samuel. For those who have not Samuel is a 30 year old man that Dr. Larry Donatelle and his wife Kathy met when they did home visits in Alto Cayma Peru with Maria the Social worker in February. Samuel 6 months earlier had be severely burned in a house fire. He was saving his family and received the worst of the injuries. The 4 children and his wife are fine. Samuel had some treatment but the moneys ran out so no further treatment is being done. This young man had severe burns to the back of his hands and they are not functional so he is not able to work. His wife is working for a $1.00 a day as a street sweeper to bring in money for the family. When Larry and Kathy shared the story with all of us we wanted to help Samuel receive plastic surgery on his hands so he will be able to work again.

Karen Falkenstein a volunteer nurse working in Alto Cayma was able to work with Maria the Social Worker and found a Plastic Surgeon in Arequipa that would do the surgeries. Below is the email we received from her on March 13, 2009. Samuel had his first surgery so we will ask Karen to blog to keep us updated on his progress.

Impact Peru Team

---

Hello Affinity Team,

First, thank you so much for the contact in Lima. I am waiting to hear back from him. I will give him a few more days and write once more! I am hoping, he can help evaluate Samuel. However, in the mean time....
We have found a plastic surgeon specialist in Arequipa who is willing to do the surgery for an awesome price. There are several reasons the clinic staff feels it is extremely important to do the surgeries here in Arequipa. One he will be near his family, second the clinic staff can help oversee his care and rehabilitation. Lastly, we will get much more for the same price. The surgeon will do the operations for 500 soles per operation. He is thinking that 3 operations will be necessary. The first being the operation on Samuel's hands. Of course, there are LOTS of other costs associated with his operation and recovery.

Here is a basic break down (for the 3 operations, the totals):
Operation=1500 soles
Medicines = 2000
anesthesia = 1000
Hospital room/board=2000
Labs/tests= 1000
rehabilitation= 1000
home improvements=1000 (we need to make sure he has a good place to recovery..out of out sun/dirt)
total 9500 soles (around 3000 US dollars)

Please let me know your thoughts, feedback, criticism, etc!!!

Thank you so much for your help with this important matter,

Karen