Please Help 50 Children Suffering from Severe Burn

Dear HOPE Supporter,

It is with great pleasure that I write this update to inform you that HOPE's second burn camp provided lifesaving sureries to 36 patients! This is incrediuble, and made possible due to supporters like yourselves, and from our partner, ReSurge International. ReSurge brought with them an experienced team of medical and non-medical volunteers, and worked diligently through their trip to make this happen. Please find below a story povided from ReSurge about Lucky, pictured, one of the patient's who's life was truly transformed:

"“Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby?” Those were the first words that Lucky spoke after waking up from her surgery for burn reconstruction at Hope Hospital in Bangladesh. When we told her he was just fine, she smiled and drifted back to sleep.

Lucky is a young, devoted mother of two small boys – and her name seems almost unfitting when you first learn of her story.

Her own loving parents named her Lucky when she became their only child after years of hoping to have children. She grew up, married and became a high school teacher, learning English and pursuing her master’s degree. Lucky loved teaching and children.

When she was giving birth to her first son, complications arose, the labor was prolonged and her first baby was born with severe brain damage. He is now three and still cannot hold up his head nor walk. As services for disabled children are few in Bangladesh, she needed to leave her job as a teacher to care for him.

The next year, she was expecting again. To avoid the labor complications this time, her doctors recommended and scheduled a c-section. The day before she was to travel to Chittagong Hospital for the delivery, Lucky was cooking on her floor-level stove when her dress caught fire. She remembers little from that fateful day except that her arms were burning as she tried to keep the fire from her belly, her baby.

Lucky was rushed to the Chittagong Hospital and the emergency doctors wrapped her wounds. The next morning, still in severe pain from her burns, she delivered a healthy baby boy, as scheduled. Then, Lucky was taken by ambulance to Dhaka for further treatment of her burns. Her newborn and other child stayed behind in the care of her in-laws.

She went a month without seeing her children while being treated for her burns in Dhaka. The separation and the treatment were both painful. Lucky returned home after the long month, but was still not well enough to fully care for her children for another 8 months. Thankfully, her in-laws are kind and helped. Although she healed and regained her health, the wounds on her arm contracted and she could no longer extend it fully, making it difficult to care for her children.

Last month, Lucky came to the Hope Hospital in Cox’s Bazar and the ReSurge surgical team cared for her. With reconstructive surgery, they released the elbow burn contracture so that she will be able to use her arm more fully. Moreover, outside the normal scope of ReSurge’s work, Dr. Evan Bloom, the team pediatrician, and Mohan Dangol, the team physical therapist, were able to provide her some comforting advice and splints for her older son.

For someone who has suffered so much, the ReSurge team was happy to provide whatever assistance they could. Lucky was very thankful for the help and said that she actually felt lucky for the first time in a long time.

So perhaps the name Lucky did fit her that week, but we also will fondly remember Lucky as Courageous, Resilient, Kind and Devoted. We wish her the best."

Story Credit: ReSurge International

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Davis

Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,

Ashley Pugh

Links:

• HOPE's Website