The Story of Jésica

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This content is from page 195 of Disabled Village Children

HealthWiki > Disabled Village Children > Chapter 23: Spinal Cord Injury > The Story of Jésica

THE STORY OF JÉSICA

Jésica is a little girl who was paralyzed because of an unnecessary injection she received when she was 3 days old. Her mother does not know why or with what she was injected. This is the story of her rehabilitation at PROJIMO.
	The injection resulted in an infection that reached her spine, and permanently paralyzed her legs.
Misuse of medicines and especially injections is a common and preventable cause of disability. See Chapter 3.

	Jésica’s feet became clubbed. When she tried to stand, she developed large, infected pressure sores on her knees and feet.	When Jésica first came to PROJIMO at age 4, the village team first treated the infected sores. Then they began to cast her feet to gradually straighten them.
pressure sore
	They left ‘windows’ in the casts to keep treating the sores.	Little by little the sores healed and Jésica’s feet straightened. Here one of the workers changes her cast.

Jésica also lacks bowel and bladder control. From the uncontrolled loss of urine, she developed pressure sores in her genital area. Vania, an 8-year-old girl with paraplegia, helped treat Jésica’s sores. She also assisted Jésica with a bowel program which helps her time her bowel movements (see picture in "Bowel Management"). This makes daily activities and going to school much easier.

Vania treats the pressure sore on Jésica’s foot.	Here Vania cleans and dresses sores on Jésica’s genital area.

When her feet were straighter, the village workers made above-knee braces for her and a simple wood walker. In a few weeks Jésica was walking.	With practice Jésica was able to walk with crutches—and finally with only her braces.
Jésica now goes to school in the village. Seeing people with disabilities at PROJIMO who were happy, active, and accepted in the community has given Jésica a more hopeful, confident, and adventurous outlook on life.

Mari, a person with paraplegia, is one of the leaders of the PROJIMO team. Here she works on a cast for making a plastic brace. See her story.	Victor, a young doctor, became quadriplegic in a traffic accident. He could do nothing for himself when he came to PROJIMO. The village workers helped him gain strength and develop many skills. Soon he became a member of the PROJIMO team and became the village doctor.
	This pressure sore, at the base of the spine in a young man with quadriplegia, was present for 2 years. It was 15 cm across under the skin, and had completely destroyed the lower part of his spine.

Village workers at PROJIMO clean and dress the pressure sore.	Here one of the workers packs the sore with a paste of sugar and honey. With this treatment 2 times each day, the sore stayed clean and free of infection, and healed rapidly (in about 6 months).