By Skylar Christensen | Junior Copywriter
As the holidays are quickly approaching, we at Duncan Tree Foundation (DTF) want to take a moment to thank all of you, and let you know what your support means to us -- and what it allows us to do.
This past year, our talented team of volunteer spine surgeons, nurses, technicians, board members and advisors traveled to the following sites around the globe:
On these five mission trips, we were able to transform the lives of forty people who became newer, happier and healthier versions of themselves.
If you come from a poor family, when you are first diagnosed with scoliosis, you are simply out of luck, unless you have the money and access to resources for expensive spine surgery.
Here in the U.S., insurance covers the cost of surgery, hospitalization, for the most part (the costs can go as high as a quarter million dollars USD, per patient). While in places like the Philippines, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, because this is an elective surgery, most families typically don’t have the money to cover the cost which allows loved ones to receive corrective spine surgery.
As it is in most under-served parts of the world, a lack of money is THE major barrier preventing people from living the life they deserve (unless they can find charitable resources to help them). This is where DTF steps in.
With your on-going financial support, DTF will help eliminate barriers and provide access to implants, instruments and highly trained medical experts who volunteer their time and talents, all at no cost to patients.
DTF has been able to do a lot more this past year than simply going to different countries with medical resources. We’ve been blessed to be able to bring hope to hopeless situations and restored dignity to people who have been ostracized by society.
We feel privileged to be a bridge for those who desperately need access to medical resources.
A few years ago, with the help of Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester (DTF medical advisor and former Chief Medical Officer of Jamaica) DTF held a ‘thanks giving’ service at the chapel at Cornwall Regional Hospital, in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Our lead surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Paonessa, was asked to read a passage from the book of Luke, Verse 13:10-17 that reads, “on the Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, thou art loosed, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” This could not be a more perfect representation of why DTF exists. Of course, we bring healing, the big difference being that our surgeries require skilled volunteers with gifted hands, time and money.
As everyone at DTF is in the holiday spirit of giving and rejoicing, we hope you all are too. We ask that you think of us this holiday season, and think of all the young people, who just like us, wish to be doctors, athletes, accountants, cosmetologists, and movie stars.
We ask you to not only think of giving to the future of these young people, but also help rejoice with us for those we have already helped. Rejoice for the people they will be able to help in the future, now that they are healed.
All of us involved with Duncan Tree Foundation want to wish you and your loved ones the merriest of holidays, and we hope you will think of us the next time your generous heart decides to add another charity to your list.
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