15 October 2023 Week #55: BYU 2ft Prosthetics
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a memorable week as we have attended quite a few things with this prosthetic project. We have been amazed. Mabuhay Deseret Foundation have done a great job of orchestrating all of this. BYU 2FT prosthetics were amazing, and they had some others involved. One other group, headed by an LDS guy, is called ArtLegPH. We also had a technician from Vicente Sotto Hospital (where we delivered Kangaroo Tubes). And of course, we had Alex Martinez, the prosthetics person from DSWD-AVRC and his wife. They built and gave legs to 35 patients this week from a toddler to a young boy, to a teenage boy, to a young mother, middle aged men and women, and elderly people. It was fun to see the different reactions from the people, the excitement, the doubt, the fear, as they WALKED. Some not trusting at all and holding on tight with their crutches, others wanting to walk back and forth on the runway in between two parallel bars without holding on, to those who weren’t letting go for love nor money. The joy we saw in Alex’s face when some of his very own patients walked without holding on. It was fun!
After our Humanitarian Team Meeting on Monday, we headed out to DSWD-AVRC where the event took place from Monday – Friday. On Monday they had all of the patients show up to be fitted. The fitting was a process where they wrapped the people’s legs in a cheesecloth netting and then rubbed a plaster on it to make it firm. They let it harden, then they pull it off, put it on a pole, and fill it with a plaster that now takes the shape of the leg. They let it dry and harden, then they cut off the plaster wrapping, now having a stump the shape of the individual’s stump. Then they smooth it out because of the cheesecloth that leaves a few bubbles, etc. That all happened on Monday.
On Tuesday – Thursday they built the prosthetics. This takes a lot of work and careful attention. It requires special tubing to form a hard cover to go over their stump, yet comfortable. Then you have to piece all of the leg, feet, maybe a knee, etc. together with bolts and screws, hinges, etc. We only watched them do this one day. Every day we went there it took us about 30 minutes to get there and about 2 hours to get home. Traffic was a nightmare coming home because of construction in the return lanes. We did a lot of exercising of our patient muscle.
On Friday we spent all day there not arriving home until 8:00 p.m. Traffic was horrendous again, but it was a wonderful day. They had all the patients come back to get their prosthetic. The patients didn’t come on Tuesday – Thursday. At 8:00 a.m. on Friday they started fitting patients. It took a long time and they had about 5 guys fitting people. A lot of adjustments had to be made so the leg would be the same length as the other leg, so a hip wasn’t too high. The foot needed to be the same size as their other foot so one size of shoes would fit both feet. They had to make adjustments on the mobility of the leg, etc. It is too complicated for me to share. It was a busy, full day. We then had a program at 4:00 with a dance group of deaf people from the AVRC performing. They had some talented blind musicians playing piano, guitar, and drums, and singing. These are people who have been treated at the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center and some now work there. Speeches were made. Awards were given. Certificates were handed out. All the people walked across the stage, some without help of the beams and some not trusting themselves yet, so they used the beams. All the workers were recognized. It was a wonderful event with a dinner provided. We left at about 6:00 p.m. and arrived home at about 8:00.
It was fun to watch the excitement in Alex as he went from being very apprehensive on Monday and not wanting to really join in. He is an older gentleman that has made these prosthetics on his own without really any training. 2FT Prosthetics did a great job of training without being pushy. They just did their thing and would answer any questions that anyone had. Alex’s wife joined right in. After a couple of days, so did Alex. He could see how this could really speed up what he is trying to do. We hope we will be able to get the tools Alex will need and some materials to make this happen.
They called this week’s great event “Walktober” here in the month of October. 2FT Prosthetics hopes to return again in March and do “March On”. We hope it will happen. (Just as many people as got prosthetics were turned away because they can only do so much. That was sad.)
The mother of the main prosthetician for 2FT is Rebecca Hunsaker. She raised her family in Green River, WY. She had a son that wrestled for Green River. She came up to us and asked where we were from and we replied, Wyoming. She then asked if we are part of all those successful Teicherts from Cokeville who wrestle. That was fun. Then when we visited with one of the helpers who just accompanied them here from California, we found out he had gone to BYU for a bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate degree, and was in school there for a long time. He now lives in the Bay Area and works for a start up company called Google. I said I had never heard of them, but I would google them and see what I could find out. Anyway, he grew up in Eagle River, Alaska. He graduated from Chugiak High School. Darrel Heath is a couple years older than Miles Victors. It was fun to make that connection and that he knew the Victors and is the nephew of Greg Fullmer, whom I played little league baseball against in Montpelier, ID. Then when we worked the summers in Alaska, Greg was a tour bus driver and would often be assigned to bring the tourists to the Oberg house for lunch. He always wanted that assignment so he could have some rhubarb pie.
Clyda and I just finished watching a movie on BYUtv. It was the second movie we have watched on our mission. The other one was “The Other Side of Heaven”. We believe this movie “Accidentally Ever After” has the same lead actor as the other movie. Anyway, if you want to watch a movie about a confused person, meet Simon Hayes. Clyda and I laughed all the way through this movie, it reminds us of just how our mission is going. We aren’t sure anyone understands us, and we don’t understand anyone else. It is pretty funny. If a movie is made of our experience, I hope it will at least be funny. Thank goodness some good things are happening in all the confusion, and we are getting a chance to share our testimonies. For those not on our family texting, Tyson shared an experience of a senior couple from Upton, Wyoming who have just completed a humanitarian aid mission to Albania, and I quote from Tyson, “At High Council meeting tonight, we had a Senior Couple from Upton report their mission. They were Humanitarian Aid in Albania, sounds like a lot of similar experiences to Mom and Dad…. Anyway, they presented a little slide show, one of the slides said “When we got there, everything was different and strange to us, the language, buildings, money, customs, everything, and we did not know what we were doing. But after being there and serving for 24 months, everything was more familiar to us, and we go so much better at NOT KNOWING WHAT WE ARE DOING!”
We do know the feeling!!
Today has been a wonderful Sabbath! Once again, I marvel at the strength of the Church here. It continues to grow amidst Satan’s significant force against it. I am so grateful I chose to humble myself enough to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet. I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost bore witness to me that it is indeed true! It has shaped my life and my decisions, even though I have done many dumb things that aren’t becoming of a disciple of Jesus Christ. I continue to make mistakes, but my wonderful parents set a great example of “talking of Christ, rejoicing in Christ, …that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26 We certainly were born of goodly parents.
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Week #55 10/9-10/15
It has been a memorable week as we have attended quite a few things with this prosthetic project. We have been amazed. Mabuhay Deseret Foundation have done a great job of orchestrating all of this. BYU 2FT prosthetics were amazing, and they had some others involved. One other group, headed by an LDS guy, is called ArtLegPH. We also had a technician from Vicente Sotto Hospital (where we delivered Kangaroo Tubes). And of course, we had Alex Martinez, the prosthetics person from DSWD-AVRC and his wife. They built and gave legs to 35 patients this week from a toddler to a young boy, to a teenage boy, to a young mother, middle aged men and women, and elderly people. It was fun to see the different reactions from the people, the excitement, the doubt, the fear, as they WALKED. Some not trusting at all and holding on tight with their crutches, others wanting to walk back and forth on the runway in between two parallel bars without holding on, to those who weren’t letting go for love nor money. The joy we saw in Alex’s face when some of his very own patients walked without holding on. It was fun!
After our Humanitarian Team Meeting on Monday, we headed out to DSWD-AVRC where the event took place from Monday – Friday. On Monday they had all of the patients show up to be fitted. The fitting was a process where they wrapped the people’s legs in a cheesecloth netting and then rubbed a plaster on it to make it firm. They let it harden, then they pull it off, put it on a pole, and fill it with a plaster that now takes the shape of the leg. They let it dry and harden, then they cut off the plaster wrapping, now having a stump the shape of the individual’s stump. Then they smooth it out because of the cheesecloth that leaves a few bubbles, etc. That all happened on Monday.
On Tuesday – Thursday they built the prosthetics. This takes a lot of work and careful attention. It requires special tubing to form a hard cover to go over their stump, yet comfortable. Then you have to piece all of the leg, feet, maybe a knee, etc. together with bolts and screws, hinges, etc. We only watched them do this one day. Every day we went there it took us about 30 minutes to get there and about 2 hours to get home. Traffic was a nightmare coming home because of construction in the return lanes. We did a lot of exercising of our patient muscle.
On Friday we spent all day there not arriving home until 8:00 p.m. Traffic was horrendous again, but it was a wonderful day. They had all the patients come back to get their prosthetic. The patients didn’t come on Tuesday – Thursday. At 8:00 a.m. on Friday they started fitting patients. It took a long time and they had about 5 guys fitting people. A lot of adjustments had to be made so the leg would be the same length as the other leg, so a hip wasn’t too high. The foot needed to be the same size as their other foot so one size of shoes would fit both feet. They had to make adjustments on the mobility of the leg, etc. It is too complicated for me to share. It was a busy, full day. We then had a program at 4:00 with a dance group of deaf people from the AVRC performing. They had some talented blind musicians playing piano, guitar, and drums, and singing. These are people who have been treated at the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center and some now work there. Speeches were made. Awards were given. Certificates were handed out. All the people walked across the stage, some without help of the beams and some not trusting themselves yet, so they used the beams. All the workers were recognized. It was a wonderful event with a dinner provided. We left at about 6:00 p.m. and arrived home at about 8:00.
It was fun to watch the excitement in Alex as he went from being very apprehensive on Monday and not wanting to really join in. He is an older gentleman that has made these prosthetics on his own without really any training. 2FT Prosthetics did a great job of training without being pushy. They just did their thing and would answer any questions that anyone had. Alex’s wife joined right in. After a couple of days, so did Alex. He could see how this could really speed up what he is trying to do. We hope we will be able to get the tools Alex will need and some materials to make this happen.
They called this week’s great event “Walktober” here in the month of October. 2FT Prosthetics hopes to return again in March and do “March On”. We hope it will happen. (Just as many people as got prosthetics were turned away because they can only do so much. That was sad.)
The mother of the main prosthetician for 2FT is Rebecca Hunsaker. She raised her family in Green River, WY. She had a son that wrestled for Green River. She came up to us and asked where we were from and we replied, Wyoming. She then asked if we are part of all those successful Teicherts from Cokeville who wrestle. That was fun. Then when we visited with one of the helpers who just accompanied them here from California, we found out he had gone to BYU for a bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate degree, and was in school there for a long time. He now lives in the Bay Area and works for a start up company called Google. I said I had never heard of them, but I would google them and see what I could find out. Anyway, he grew up in Eagle River, Alaska. He graduated from Chugiak High School. Darrel Heath is a couple years older than Miles Victors. It was fun to make that connection and that he knew the Victors and is the nephew of Greg Fullmer, whom I played little league baseball against in Montpelier, ID. Then when we worked the summers in Alaska, Greg was a tour bus driver and would often be assigned to bring the tourists to the Oberg house for lunch. He always wanted that assignment so he could have some rhubarb pie.
Clyda and I just finished watching a movie on BYUtv. It was the second movie we have watched on our mission. The other one was “The Other Side of Heaven”. We believe this movie “Accidentally Ever After” has the same lead actor as the other movie. Anyway, if you want to watch a movie about a confused person, meet Simon Hayes. Clyda and I laughed all the way through this movie, it reminds us of just how our mission is going. We aren’t sure anyone understands us, and we don’t understand anyone else. It is pretty funny. If a movie is made of our experience, I hope it will at least be funny. Thank goodness some good things are happening in all the confusion, and we are getting a chance to share our testimonies. For those not on our family texting, Tyson shared an experience of a senior couple from Upton, Wyoming who have just completed a humanitarian aid mission to Albania, and I quote from Tyson, “At High Council meeting tonight, we had a Senior Couple from Upton report their mission. They were Humanitarian Aid in Albania, sounds like a lot of similar experiences to Mom and Dad…. Anyway, they presented a little slide show, one of the slides said “When we got there, everything was different and strange to us, the language, buildings, money, customs, everything, and we did not know what we were doing. But after being there and serving for 24 months, everything was more familiar to us, and we go so much better at NOT KNOWING WHAT WE ARE DOING!”
We do know the feeling!!
Today has been a wonderful Sabbath! Once again, I marvel at the strength of the Church here. It continues to grow amidst Satan’s significant force against it. I am so grateful I chose to humble myself enough to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet. I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost bore witness to me that it is indeed true! It has shaped my life and my decisions, even though I have done many dumb things that aren’t becoming of a disciple of Jesus Christ. I continue to make mistakes, but my wonderful parents set a great example of “talking of Christ, rejoicing in Christ, …that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26 We certainly were born of goodly parents.
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
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