By Elizabeth Neufeld | Vice President of Strategy and Growth
As told by Oliver Leung with the Huffington Post in an article about ROMP: "We often take our mobility for granted because it’s available. Our mobility allows us to explore. It allows us to express our physical freedom. So when our mobility is stripped from us, so is our freedom."
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When Elba, a ROMP patient, came into the ROMP clinic two years ago, she stated she wanted to run again. This would require first that Elba learned to walk with a prosthetic device, which as she stated "she never believed she would be able to afford". It would also require that ROMP volunteers locate specialized donated parts, specific for running, which could fit Elba's small size and be customized to enable her to run.
After a few months, a running leg and foot came in to ROMP through the Components For A Cause Program, which recycles gently used prosthetic devices from the US and uses them to help patients at one of our four clinic sites. When this device was sent to ROMP, the team knew right away that it was a potential match for Elba and within a few weeks, a team of practitioners brought it down to Guatemala for her to try. After a successful fitting, Elba was off and running within minutes.
The freedom that comes as a result of this movement, had the entire ROMP team in tears. Seeing Elba's face reminded the team how powerful mobility is to everyone, not just those with compromised mobility.
We are so grateful for the support of our generous donors, who make dreams like "learning to run again" possible and help us bring the right technologies to the right people. ROMP would not exist without your contributions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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