In early 2017, our Interplast team working in Madang, PNG, met young Sam and his father, Frank. Interplast volunteer nurse KAY SUTER tells the inspiring story of a father’s commitment to pursuing surgery for his son.
Sam, 5, is from Enga Province in the PNG Highlands. Many families in the highlands have stone pit fires built into the floor of their home for cooking and heating. In April 2015, Sam tripped on a log and fell into his family’s fire pit, sustaining burns to his right hand and arm, and his face.
Sam was taken straight to the local Aid Post for initial treatment before he was sent on to the hospital at Mt Hagen in the Western Highlands Province the next day. Sam spent six weeks there having his burn wounds managed before going back home.
The burns were severe, and without access to surgery or physiotherapy, Sam developed major scar contractures. His right hand became almost unusable – he wasn’t able to hold a pen, and as a result hadn’t been able to start his schooling. His severe elbow contracture meant he could not get his hand to his mouth. The implications for his future – school, play and work – were stark.
Sam’s father, Frank, had heard that an Interplast team was due to be in Mt Hagen late in March 2017. Sam and his father made the long bus ride to get to the Hospital in Mt Hagen, but they arrived on the team’s final operating day. Unfortunately the operating list was fully booked and the team was unable to help.
There was another Interplast team due in Madang on the north-east coast the following week, so the family was offered two options – make the long bus journey to Madang as long as they could get there by Monday, or wait for the next Interplast team to come back to Mt Hagen in early 2018.
