Patient Stories

Perez Rea Carmen

Name: Perez Rea Carmen
Age: 68
Date of loss: 11/2011
Previous job (before accident): Agriculture
Previous Prosthesis: No

Carmen works in the farms and fields of Bolivia.  Due to the lack of medical treatments and access to preventative care for her diabetes, Carmen’s doctors were compelled to amputate her leg after an infection started in one of her toes and spread to her knee. She was 68 years old when she lost her leg.

With the loss of her leg, Carmen was unable to work and fell into a deep depression. She felt that her entire life was over since she was unable to be productive and earn a living.

In February 2012, Carmen received a prosthetic leg and has promptly returned to work in the fields, happy to support herself and her family.

Ponciano Arias Rodriguez

Name: Ponciano Arias Rodriguez
Age: 62
Date of loss: 02/1995
Previous job (before accident): Agriculture
Job now: Agriculture
Previous Prosthesis: yes

Ponciano was working in the fields 17 years ago when he was unloading heavy loads of crops from his truck. In an unfortunate turn of events, a runaway car came from behind and hit Ponciano, trapping him between the car and the truck. Ponciano has no recollection of what happened to him after the impact. Sadly, he woke up in the hospital with a missing leg.

Ponciano was rendered unable to work in the field, however, with the assistance of his family, he acquired a prosthesis that gave him the ability to walk. After 10 years of continual wear using the same prosthesis, the pain associated with using the worn out equipment had insufferable impact on his body. He now prefers not wearing it at all and chooses to suffer with the difficulty of walking on one leg.

With a new prosthetic provided by SOS, he lives pain free and is able to work in a different profession.

Menesces Flores Agapito

Name: Menesces Flores Agapito
Age: 63
Date of loss: 1972
Amputation: AK
Previous job (before accident): Carpenter
Job now: Carpenter
Previous Prosthesis: yes

Agapito worked as a young carpenter in La Paz in conditions that were normally hazardous but necessary to get the job done. When he was 23, he was riding on top of a truck when it flipped over, hurled him to the ground and crushed one of his legs. The trauma to his body was so intense that Agapito went unconscious and stayed in a coma for over two weeks. When he awoke in the hospital, it was the first time he saw that his leg was amputated above the knee.

Agapito was fortunate enough to get a prosthesis that enabled him to sustain a living as a carpenter after his devastating loss.

However, over time, Agapitos’s occupation put a lot of wear on his prosthetic leg. After more than 10 years of having the same prosthesis, walking became an ordeal of pain making his life miserable. At age 63, forty years since his accident, he had given up hope living his remaining years without emotional and physical agony.

With money that Sending Out An SOS donated, Agapito was able to obtain a prosthetic through the Rotary La Paz-Centro de Miembros Artificiales whom we sponsor. He is now able to walk without excruciating pain and still continues to work by painting houses enabling him to earn money for himself and his family. Agapito feels there is hope again with the relief of a new prosthesis that has significantly improved the quality of his life.