Brian Teel, REI- Vietnam’s Director, just shared this incredible story of how REI was able to help this young patient receive the treatment he needed. Below is the email he sent to REI’s home team:

“Dr. Craig Johnson, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA and his daughter traveled to Vietnam last November with REI’s Pediatric Team as volunteers. In a most remarkable ‘coincidence,’ on this trip Dr. Johnson met Dr. Nhat, the head of Orthopedics at Hue Central Hospital.

“Dr. Nhat remembered Dr. Johnson from a special training program in the USA they both had received a couple of decades ago, and a budding friendship emerged. Soon Dr. Johnson became aware of a special case confronting Dr. Nhat – a young boy born without a left femur. This young boy made such an impression on Dr. Johnson and his teenage daughter that they returned to the USA determined to do something about the situation.