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Health & Fitness

Tuesday, July 16, 2013: Final Day of Surgery

How many were completed...

The team’s last day of surgery kicked off with an early start. At the conclusion of Monday, they completed 5 hip replacement surgeries and 12 knee replacement surgeries. This brought the grand total of surgeries completed on this year’s Operation Walk Pittsburgh trip to 58 joints on 53 patients in just three days!
 
Dr. Luis, the team's amazing host and local orthopaedic surgeon, told the team how much this means to his country. "Aside from total joint replacement surgeries done by the Operation Walk Pittsburgh team, there are only typically 60 surgeries done in this country in one year because of their expense."
Dr. Luis has been a part of the Operation Walk Pittsburgh team for several years and has traveled to Panama with them. His hospitality and generosity are a huge part of the success of Operation Walk Pittsburgh. He and his family make these trips to Honduras possible, and the team cannot thank them enough. Seeing him interact with patients, it is apparent that this hospital is filled with love.
 
Before being discharged from the hospital, patient Maria grabbed the hands of a team member saying, "I need you to tell every person what this means to me. You gave me back my hope. My ability to live life normally and without pain. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May you be blessed. May every person who made this possible be blessed."
 
The team looks forward to helping the remaining patients with their physical therapy.

Hagar San Rafael Visit
A group of Operation Walk Pittsburgh volunteers visited Hagar San Rafael, a young boys' orphanage located on a near-by farm. Forty boys, ages 6-18 live and work on the farm each day and were ecstatic to meet volunteers and make new friends with Operation Walk Pittsburgh. The team brought balls to play games, including an American football (in Pittsburgh Steelers colors, of course) which the kids had never seen before. After games, the team and kids had a pizza party which they said was very special to them as it typically takes them a year to save money to afford pizza! Meet the kids by checking out this video: http://youtu.be/fH8nDStmJFA

To see more pictures and follow the Operation Walk Pittsburgh team's progress, visit:https://www.operationwalkpgh.org/Mission%20trips/honduras-2013.

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