Martha’s New Leg

Thanks to four large screws, road crash victim Martha Fulagbe (4) from DR Congo is guaranteed an active future.

The beds are placed close to each other in the surgical ward of Lubutu Hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. While some patients are relaxing in bed, others are chatting with visitors and fellow patients. Two Marthas are sitting in a bed by the window, a fifty-year-old woman and her four-year-old daughter.

“Martha did not eat all day because she is going into surgery,” says the mother. “She is very nervous.”

In a coma

She lifts her daughter’s skirt and reveals two large black metal tubes sticking out of Martha’s thigh.

“She was hit by a motorbike. She fell into a coma and she lost a lot of blood. I thought she was going to die.”

Bone fracture

The four-year-old was brought to the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Lubutu, which offers high quality medical care free of charge. After six days Martha awoke from the coma. But during the accident her leg was very badly broken. After initial treatment it soon became apparent that the bone fracture was not healing well. She needed surgery.

“We had to break Martha’s femur apart again, and we inserted an external fixator with four pins to make it heal properly,” says surgeon and Hospital Director Jérôme Mupenda.

“She has had the external fixator for eight weeks now, and today we are going to remove it. I am sure that she will soon be able to walk normally.”

Pre surgery nerves

Martha is sitting in her bed with a confused look on her face. She understands that something big is about to happen, but not quite what.

A nurse enters the room to pick her up. Finally the large metal object is going to be removed from her thigh. The nurse brings Martha to the operating room.

“Mum, mum,” she screams with tears rolling down her face.

She is scared. Three nurses hold her down while she receives the anaesthetic. Her screams become quieter, her arms drop and soon she is completely calm, asleep. The Danish anaesthetist feels her chest. She is breathing normally.

Dr. Jérôme enters the operating room. He sterilises his hands and puts on clean gloves. He reaches for a special screwdriver and gently starts working on the pins in Martha’s thigh. The big metal tubes are lifted away, one by one the pins are removed, and the nurses can start bandaging the wound.

A nurse lifts the sleeping girl into his arms and carries her over to the postoperative room. Martha will be monitored as she comes out of anaesthesia and, reunited with her mum, soon she will be trying out her first steps without metal pins holding her leg together.

Advanced surgery

Médecins Sans Frontières took over the Lubutu hospital in 2006, due to the high mortality rate in the area. The aim was to develop a fully-functional hospital offering high quality secondary healthcare.

“Surgery like this was not possible to perform prior to Médecins Sans Frontières,” remembers Dr. Jérôme. “At that time I was the only surgeon here, and I could only do simple procedures.”

The number of hospital employees has risen from 43 to 200 in the period that Médecins Sans Frontières has been running the hospital. In the new operating theatres, the surgical team can do two interventions at the same time if necessary.

Dr. Jérôme is happy and proud to announce that Martha’s surgery went well.

“It would have been disastrous for Martha to not have this surgery. One leg would have been five inches shorter than the other, which would have given her huge problems.”

Hospital heartbreaker

Little Martha is squatting on the hospital floor with her water bottle in her hands.

“Give your doll some water,” says mother Martha to her daughter with a smile.

The four-year-old jumps up and pretends to be giving her doll some water. It has been three days since the surgery. She has put on her finest dress and charms patients and visitors as they go by, always with a tight grip around her doll. She still limps a little, but with some more training the doctors expect her to be able to walk normally soon.

“I think she will be just fine,” says mother Martha. “The most important thing for me now is that she returns to school and catches up on her education.”

Suddenly the doll’s leg falls off. Martha quickly puts it back on.

“She has learned that legs can be repaired”, says mother Martha, laughing.