A visiting doctor from the hospital for special surgeries in New York is in the country performing operations on children with congenital foot disorders. Dr. Steven Burk is in the country on a holiday but he's taken time out of his recreation to help three children who are in need of surgeries to repair malformations that prevent them from walking properly. The 7NEWS team "scrubbed in" to get inside the KHMH's operating theaters today to see the surgical magic.
Dr. Steven Burk,
"And then six more weeks with your knee straight so you can walk on it. But after that you should walk not just as good as you walk before but better."
Those were the words of comfort given to 7-year-old Andrew Nunez by Dr. Steven
Burk just as he was being taken into the operating theater. Doctors performed what's known as a tendon release and transfer surgery to repair his right ankle. Dr. Burk who is visiting Belize on a fishing trip has offered his services to three patients including Nunez.
Dr. Steven Burk,
"Today we're operating on two children from Belize who have a foot deformity related to a neurological problem that has caused their foot to turn under and caused them to develop calluses and in once case frank's skin break down. By doing the surgery today we are balancing the muscles, correcting these deformities, so that the problem in terms of calluses and skin breakdown and pain should no longer be an issue. One child had hydrocephalus, which is excess fluid on the brain, and the other child had a condition called a form of spina bifida, which affects the spinal cord and in turn affects the nerve of the muscles to the leg and foot and causes this muscle imbalance and the deformity. We are actually transferring tendons to make the
muscles do two jobs instead of one, if you will, and by balancing those muscles and correcting the deformity, that should keep the deformity from coming back. I expect that by the time it heals and it comes out of their cast, their foot should be flat on the ground and able to walk without braces and able to walk without developing calluses or skin breakdowns."
Dr. Burk says today's surgeries come after clinics were held earlier on where suitable candidates were identified.
Dr. Steven Burk,
"I came down in November of last year to examine children and there were a number of children who had orthopedic problems that I felt, not only needed treatment, but could be well treated here in Belize. The two children today and another one on Monday are children from the clinic we saw. We're operating on them and hopefully fixing their orthopedic problems."
With that, today's fairly simple surgical procedures will make all the difference for these three children, as they take to life with firmer footing.
Dr. Burk along with Belizean doctors will perform the similar third surgery on Monday.
