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.

“Dr. Johnson eventually worked out the medical arrangements for the case while his daughter and her choir raised $6000 toward the expenses.

“In the end, Dr. Johnson requested REI’s assistance in putting together a package that would bring patient, patient’s father, Vietnamese attending surgeon, translator, and their accompanying party to the USA for treatment. We were very happy to do this.

“While Mayo’s had only limited exposure to this condition, Shriner’s Hospital in Minneapolis had extensive experience with this. In fact, the surgeon treating young Hieu has treated 50 other children from around the world with this condition! Hieu is clearly in the right place for his condition.

“Yesterday the medical team at Shriner’s worked out a plan of action that: (a) does not require any amputation right now, (b) involves fitting Hieu with a prosthesis that should allow for normal movement in many daily activities, and (c) will involve follow-up in Hue under Dr. Nhat’s leadership.

“We could not be more pleased. If all proceeds according to plans, Lien and Long, young Hieu and his father Quang, head back to Vietnam on September 4 while Dr. Nhat spends one additional week in the US for his observational fellowship.

“Before I give you the connection to view the NBC Minneapolis-affiliate’s video on the story, just allow me to mention two additional points:

“Yesterday the Shriner’s surgeon told Dr. Johnson that in all the work he had done with people coming internationally, he had never seen such a comprehensive effort to make certain the patient’s family understood the treatment and the eventual receiving physician was present to participate in forming the long-range care plan. He was amazed that everyone was able to come together to greatly enhance the prospects of long-range success.

“Also yesterday, another interesting ‘coincidence’ happened in the waiting room. Before Hieu and his father could see the surgeon, they met another patient – a 15-year-old girl – in the office who had the same condition as Hieu. To their delight, they learned that this girl lived a normal life. She was even able to swim and play tennis with her prosthetic limb. This brought much hope to the family.”

Here at REI, we could not be more thrilled to be a part of mobilizing our volunteers to do REI’s work in Vietnam and at home in the USA. We wanted to share our joy with you. Join us in this work!

To read more and watch two videos about this story, visit these sites: http://www.singoutloud.org/ and http://www.singoutloud.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138.