A passion for playing Australian rules football is motivating a PNG patient’s recovery after an Interplast team operated on his injured arm earlier this year.
Laurie, 24, had already achieved some major sporting milestones, including playing twice in Melbourne at the MCG with the PNG Mosquitoes football team, and a scholarship that allowed him to train with the Redland Bombers in the North East Australian Football League (Queensland) during the 2012 season.
But an accident at the end of 2015 caused a bad cut in his right forearm, and seemingly ended his sporting career, along with his aspirations to be an accountant.
The cut caused severe tendon and nerve damage. The wound was initially sutured at a private clinic and Laurie was referred to hospital. During Laurie’s prolonged wait to be seen at the hospital and before treatment for the tendon and nerve damage, the wound began to heal.
Performing everyday tasks with his injured hand became nearly impossible as Laurie began to experience decreased movement, pins and needles and in some areas loss of sensation. He began to accept that the injury to his right hand would be permanent. He believed his chances of ever completing his studies had vanished and felt hopeless as he continued to search for work with limited functional use of his dominant hand.
Laurie’s long-awaited hospital appointment in April this year coincided with an Interplast surgical mentoring visit, which took place thanks to generous funding from MoniPlus and the Rotary Club of Boroko. The team assessed the injury and decided to operate.
