Climbing hills, crossing rivers

When I walked the route, I found it very difficult to say the least – how he managed weakened by the cancer I cannot imagine. He got to the hospital where he had a partial colostomy, which seems to have cleared him of the cancer.

 

Madan’s fall

However, as the father recovered and came home, tragedy struck the family. Their 12 year-old son, Madan, climbed a tree to pick fruit, going out further as he could see really juicy berries along the branch. He crawled along that branch but it was rotten and he fell six metres to the floor.

Both his spine and his wrist were fractured in the fall. His spinal cord was also damaged, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Madan was taken across the river, up the steep three-hour climb, along the ridge, down the other side and into Surkhet town. All this time he was strapped to his uncle’s back, doubly incontinent and in considerable pain.

He was sent to a hospital in Kathmandu where his wrist was put in plaster for the fracture, but without an x-ray so it wasn’t set straight.

The hospital staff then discovered the family had no money left after the admission fee and the plaster. All the money had already been spent on the father's cancer treatment.

Without money the hospital said they couldn't do any more for him and told the family to return home advising that Madan would probably be dead within three months anyway.

Surkhet surgery
Almost a year later, a man in the same village as Madan had also fallen from a tree and fractured his spine, and had somehow discovered the clinic in Surkhet run by BMS partner, the International Nepal Fellowship (INF) where I work.

Here, he had learned how to live with his condition, how to use a wheelchair and how to manoeuvre independently. He had returned to the village.

Inspired by this, Madan’s father walked up the hill, along the ridge and down the hill and back into town.

He found the INF clinic and I told him to bring his son and I would assess the situation. Madan's father therefore walked home once again and then carried his son to us.

Madan will soon move to his new home we have helped to develop from their little town house, which is right opposite the school so he can complete his education. 

 

Honoured
My recent trip to Taranga was actually to visit the other man to redesign his home to make it wheelchair-friendly but, as they are a big family in a small house, Madan's family invited me to stay with them.

As I sat on the veranda watching the family together and pondering their story, I felt indescribably blessed to be receiving their hospitality and so honoured to be able to help them in some way.