Jaime's Story: International Collaboration & A Life-Changing Operation

/in /by CAMTA
Jaime Andres is a 31-year old man who came to CAMTA with an incredible story. Ten years ago, Jaime suffered a spinal cord injury from a downhill mountain-biking accident that left him wheelchair bound and paraplegic. Determined to continue living a meaningful life, Jaime carried on with his dreams and is now a surgical resident here in Quito.
 
As a complication related to his spinal cord injury, Jaime developed severe Heterotopic Ossification (benign boney growths) over his hips that rendered him unable to bend at the waist. This led to difficulty and discomfort sitting in his wheelchair and taking part in his active and busy life as a physician. 
 
Jaime came to CAMTA after many months of looking for help in Ecuador, only to be turned away from every surgeon he saw due to the complexity and risks involved in the operation he needed. Luckily, Dr. Paulose Paul – one of our adult orthopedic surgeons for Week 1 – is an expert in this type of surgery and was there to assess Jaime when he came in. In a milestone collaboration between CAMTA and the local surgical teams, an orthopedic surgeon from Hospital Un Canto a la Vida agreed to take on the case with Dr. Paul's assistance and supervision. With local as well as CAMTA adult orthopedic surgeons in the operating theatre, this surgery was an incredible opportunity for partnership, teaching and learning, and the expansion of local skills and expertise. This was one of the most complex and difficult cases CAMTA has seen yet.  
 
Jaime is now in the hospital's ICU for recovery; he is doing very well and the team is very positive about his recovery. In particular, we hope to see significant changes in his quality of life with improved range of motion in his hips.  In a broader sense, we hope that Dr. Paul's consultation on this case will increase the confidence of local surgical teams to take on difficult cases like this in the future and benefit even more Ecuadorians living with disability.
Jaime before surgery
His busy OR