James sure doesn’t take long to warm up to people. When I stretched out my hand to him to say hi, he didn’t take it as a greeting. He took it as an invitation to leave his grandmother Esther behind & start life with me. So holding my hand tightly and leading me to the hospital exit, he smiled and waved a vigorous goodbye to her. My heart was as good as melted. I steered him back and as I started talking with him and Esther, the saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” came to mind. Although they’re a generation apart, James and Esther are so alike, and the lovable nature I’d already seen evident in James after getting “swept away” by him was just as evident in his sweet grandmother.

Apparently James’ mother left him when he was about two years and never returned, but his grandmother was more than happy to keep James. I mean, anyone would have been. But since she hadn’t been around him much prior to becoming his caretaker, Esther didn’t know everything about James’s condition. Regardless, she knew well enough to notice there was a problem in his walking and that he needed medical attention. As I interacted with them, I noticed that James exhibited characteristics of a child with cerebral palsy, but I was not sure if his grandmother knew exactly what he was suffering from. So I asked about his performance in school. “He has been going to a normal school, but has remained in the same class for three years. He doesn’t understand anything,” she told me, “but they have opened a school for children like him who do not understand anything, so I will enroll him.”

When they come to CURE International in Kijabe, the plan is to do a procedure known as an Achilles tendon lengthening (ATL). Basically, he has been walking on his toes with his right foot, so by lengthening that tight tendon, it should get him back on two flat feet. I can’t wait to host them, and I think they’ll light up the whole ward with their infectious and “happy-go-lucky” personalities. And God willing, by the time he is done with his healing, he will be ready to comfortably walk into his new school and begin learning all over again.