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Dr. David Antekeier in the News
Nagpur: Twelve-year-old Sameer Khiradkar has always been dreaming of captaining a navy ship. He wants to emulate one of his uncle who is in merchant navy. But Sameer's parents never dared to imagine their son even behind the steering wheel of a car as he was born with a crooked spine and couldn't sit or walk straight for more than half an hour due to associated pain and discomfort.
Sameer's dream is suddenly within reach thanks to a team of 32 doctors mainly from the Texas Children's Hospital (TCH), Houston, who are working at ongoing paediatric surgery camp. Doctors from countries like the UK and Germany have also participated in the camp. They have ensured Sameer has a straight backbone and will walk and sit normally. The six-day camp is going on at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences (NKPSIMS) and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital (LMH) and has been organized jointly by Balmitra Foundation (BMF), GSB Sabha and Peed Parai International (PPI), a US-based NGO, under a project called as Bal Shalyakriya Mission.
"We could never in our life have saved 10-12 lakh for the surgery working in a ginning mill near Ramtek. City doctors had told us that the operation would cost somewhere that much. Now at least we can think of our son's dream coming true," said Kalavati, Sameer's mother.
Dr David and Shannon Antekeier, orthopaedic surgeon couple from the Columbus Regional Hospital Georgia, who specialize in correcting spinal and limb deformities in children have already operated a few cases of kypho scoliosis (crooked or abnormal curvature of spine) and deformities caused due to cerebral palsy in the limbs in the camp. They told TOI the surgery was very complex and risky. It also required special anaesthesiologists. "It is great that the Globus Medical donated a number of implants we needed to fix up in the spine to straighten it, thanks to Dr Ashwin Pimpalwar of PPI who has brought us here," said Dr Antekeier.
Other doctors in the 32 member team that would be operating 100 children in the camp also thanked Dr Pimpalwar, who is also from TCH and a Nagpurian.
Mothers of Rawita Khaloo, a 16-year-old girl from Bonde village in Gadchiroli, has been operated for a complex gall bladder associated problem and one and half-year-old Laxmi Pinjare from Nara in city, operated for creating a rectal opening in right place by urosurgeons, cannot but thank their fate for getting this rare opportunity offered to them at the camp. They thank Dr Rajendra Saoji, the LMH paediatric surgeon who is a BMF patron too, Dr Amol Deshmukh of HERD Foundation, a copartner in the camp for holding screening camps in villages to select the child patients.
Dr Eric Jones, paediatric urologist from TCH who has already performed surgeries on tens children in correction hypospadias, a condition in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis, instead of at the tip, told TOI about a relatively complex surgery related to the problem. He actually revised an earlier operation done to correct the defect but it didn't yield desired results. Jones used the tissue from the inside of the upper lips of the boy to create tube like structure and give shape to the penis in collaboration with plastic surgeons.
Dr Binoy Chandy, ENT otolaryngologist relieved a boy of what his peers felt was ugliness of his face. The boy had a number of cysts protruding on his face. He used a cartilage bone as a graft from the ear in the surgery.
Dr Sudha Pidani, a paediatric anaesthesiologist from TCH, said she was here with her team as such surgeries were always better done with a familiar team. "It is easier for the surgeons to communicate with the anesthesian if s/he is a familiar person," she said.
Child life specialist Tori Vlek is a link between children and doctors. She communicates between children and doctors pre and post-operatively for better results. Paediatric nurse Carissa Chavez and emergency nurse Amanda Chavez are here specially because of Dr Pimpalwar's passion for treating children.
In a Nutshell
* 32 Surgeons from USA, UK and Germany are performing different operations on 100 children to correct birth defects
* The team including a few paediatric nurses, counsellors have travelled on their own expenses and are operating free
* Camp has specialists from all fields of paediatric surgery
* The camp partners are planning to make the surgical camp for children an annual feature
* The defects include holes in diaphragm, blocked bile ducts, swelling on kidney, crooked backbone, urological problems like genitalia located at wrong places, children with different defects of thorax, orthopaedic, general, plastic, ENT or parts of digestive system
Taken from
THE TIMES OF INDIA http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Surgical-camp-brings-hope-to-children/articleshowprint/50841970.cms
Surgical camp brings hope to children
Feb 4, 2016, 04.19 AM IST
