Alam lives in an apartment building in Dhaka, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. With the lack of space to play, Alam used the rooftop of his apartment building as his playground. One day, while flying a kite on the rooftop, he ran into an electrically charged wire and was badly injured. Electrical burns often cause deep entry and exit wounds, and both of Alam’s arms and hands were severely burned. Although our surgical outreach director, Dr. Shafquat Khundkar, couldn’t do much to save Alam’s left arm, the muscles, nerves and joints of his right arm could still be reconstructed. When the next ReSurge volunteer medical team visited Dhaka, Alam bravely underwent surgery, with Dr. Khundkar and our medical volunteers collaborating to restore function to his right arm.
Last year, we visited Alam to see his progress. His mother shared that Alam was able to return to school after his surgery. As she spoke, she handed him a pen and asked him to show us how he can write his name. Despite the fact that Alam lost one arm, his right arm has enough function and strength to allow him to hold a pencil and attend school. Click here to see a photo of what Alam wrote.
Alam is just one example of the many patients your support helps us treat around the world.
