Hope for the Future
Medanit is a 16-year-old girl whose name in the Ethiopian language Amharic means “cure.” This brave young girl is in eighth grade, and her favorite subject is human biology.
If you sat down with Medanit, you would quickly see she is strong-willed and wants to accomplish great things. Her optimism, resilience, and passion for learning make it clear that she can achieve anything she sets her sights on. This determination brought her to CURE Ethiopia.
Medanit’s Story
Medanit was born with bilateral clubfoot, so both her feet turned inward at an awkward angle. Walking was difficult, so she rarely left her house.
Her disability made life in her community difficult. “Children at my school think I am subhuman,” Medanit said before her surgery. “But I don’t see myself that way. I know that I, like everyone else, can achieve great things in life.”
After Medanit arrived at CURE Ethiopia, Dr. Nardos surgically corrected her left foot. Her surgery was successful, and she recovered from the procedure quickly. The doctors were so impressed with her progress that they decided to operate on her right foot only a week later. This brave young girl was excited to hear the news. Most kids dread the day they go into surgery, but not Medanit; she couldn’t wait to go to the operating room again! It just showed how much she wanted to live a life free from clubfoot.
Dr. Mesfin and his team led Medanit’s second surgery, called a triple arthrodesis. This procedure involved removing the damaged arthritic cartilage and fusing three joints in Medanit’s right foot. The goal was to create a stable foot for her to walk on.
More Than an Overcomer
With all the surgeries and hospital visits behind her, Medanit is back in school. She lives with her uncle so that she can be closer to school. “The children at my school don’t even know that I have a disability because I can walk up the stairs just like them,” Medanit said with a big smile.
She is happy to wear different types of shoes now that she can walk independently without any difficulty, as opposed to before, when she wore the same pair almost daily.
Medanit couldn’t leave her house because she had difficulty walking, but that has changed. Now, she goes out and socializes with her friends. She brims with joy as she recalls being valued and loved by the staff at CURE Ethiopia. She says she came to CURE feeling worthless but left with her self-esteem at an all-time high.
Medanit plans to impact others the way the highly skilled surgeons at CURE Ethiopia changed her life. “My experience at CURE has impacted me in many ways. I have great compassion for people suffering from disabilities, and I want to help them by becoming an orthopedic surgeon in the future.”
All medical care is provided at no cost to children and their families, made possible by the generous support of CURE partners and donors.
Click here to learn more about the conditions we treat at CURE Ethiopia.
About the CURE Children’s Hospital of Ethiopia
Established in 2008, CURE Ethiopia performs over 2,500 life-changing reconstructive and orthopedic surgeries every year for children suffering from treatable disabilities. Strategically located in the capital city of Addis Ababa, the teaching hospital has 70 beds and four operating rooms. CURE International uses this facility to multiply its efforts by partnering with The College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA) to serve as a regional learning institution by implementing an orthopedic pediatric training program at the residency and fellowship levels. In addition to world-class clinical service, CURE Ethiopia ministers to the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their communities.
