Billy and Life Changing Surgery
Billy, our Special Needs Coordinator riding his trusty motorbike, along with our Ugandan volunteers, are able to scour the Soroti district to identify children in need of life-changing surgery. Global Challenge are helping to fund operations that give children back their mobility when suffering from the muscle disorder called Gluteal Fibrosis. Gluteal Fibrosis is a consequence of Malaria. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles or Marsh Mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable. When children contract malaria, the preferred way of treating it in Uganda is to give an injection. Unfortunately, the way it is administered can damage the gluteal nerve in the child resulting in a muscle disorder called Gluteal Fibrosis. This condition renders the child unable to sit, squat or crouch down. It causes problems when going to the toilet and consequently problems at school due to mobility issues. This means children may miss or be late for school, may not interact socially and be in constant discomfort and excruciating pain.
Billy has informed us that he has been able to facilitate the surgeries of fifteen children recently. Each operation costs approximately £110 (August 2023).
Billy is happy to report: ” Parents are cooperating well with the volunteers and have been able to cater for welfare and transport costs for their children. This has made our work much easier.”
Billy’s trusty motorbike since 2013
Global Challenge also assist with funding operations in young people suffering from serious bone infections such as osteomyelitis that require urgent attention. (Operations costing £165, August 2023). Billy reports that there are three more children, aged between 8 and 12 years, that he and his team have identified needing surgery for gluteal fibrosis. There is also a 10 year old needing an operation for chronic osteomyelitis of the left femur and a child of 11 years needing specialized fixation surgery for left femur displaced fractures (costing just over £500, August 2023).
Please take a look at this YouTube video below entitled “I Don’t Seem To Be Fine: A Story of Gluteal Fibrosis in Uganda” produced by Rebalance MD Legacy Society (In January 2020 a team of medical professionals from Canada and the US travelled to Kumi, Uganda, to provide medical surgery for 100 kids with Gluteal Fibrosis…)
This is NOT a Global Challenge project, but really helps to explain the work we are enabling Billy to facilitate through Global Challenge. This video shows a research project that worked with just over 100 children in 2020…Global Challenge funds, on average, 20 surgeries a year and has done so for the past 12 years!
Our thanks goes to Billy and his team of volunteers in Uganda as they strive to identify and support those in need in Soroti, and to all our wonderful supporters in the UK who are helping to fund this life-changing work! Please see our Donate Now and Upcoming Events pages to see how you can become more involved in the work of Global Challenge.