Pictured is 17 year old Kevin, born with spina bifida. He was given braces over 5 year ago but has obviously outgrown them since then. So he was spending most of his time in his wheelchair. HKIE and Protesis Ibabura got him fitted with new braces to enable him to walk comfortbly.
Our other child is 16 year old Ariel who was born missing the lower part of one leg. He comes from a little town outside of Ibarra, living alone with his infirm mother who is unable to work. He also needed an updated fitting as his leg had outgrown his old prosthesis. He is shown walking on his new leg.
Thanks to Protesis Imbabura and our loyal supporters, these two young men can again be independent.

Yesterday we had a chance to go visiting. Our first stop was Casa de Diabetes to wave goodbye to the kids going on their summer camp adventure. Our good friend Susan Burke March joined us.They will be spending 3 days of fun, learning, and sharing with other children who have diabetes.
Our next stop was to the medical clinic behind Iglesia San Francisco. They were treating children yesterday afternoon. (They are open to adults and children from any country who have no money to see a general doctor). We delivered some much needed supplies, including two stethescopes.
It was a rewarding day!

AND the first two children helped by the Fishbon del Sur play..
One year ago little Steven was severely burned in a home fire where he lives in Sigsig. When a child grows, his scars do not. This week Dr Pablo Salamea Molina did surgery on Steven's leg scars at Hospital del Rio to allow motion in his legs. This will not be his last surgery, but this is a brave young man.
Our other child is 4 month old Angel. a couple of months ago, Dra Mariela Siguencia fashioned a special mouthpiece until this little angel could get his cleft lip surgery. Today Dr. Pablo performed surgery to give this young baby a normal life.
A huge thank you goes out to Laura Inks Bodine, Clay Bodine and the cast and attendees of their recent play for greatly improving the quality of life for Steven and Angel!

Pictured is 8 year old Kelli. She has had minimal vision in her left eye since birth. Unfortunately she needed treatment and glasses to allow her brain to "see" through that eye. The doctors at this point could only give her glasses to increase vision in the left eye to 50%. Fortunately with her other eye at 20/20 she will be able to cope. Thank you Exilaser and Dr. Giuseppe Miotto for waiving the eye exam fee and for the generous discount for her glasses!
Also pictured is 13 year old Luis. Last week Dr Pablo Performed surgery on his nose and repaired his lip at Hospital Del Rio.
As he always does, Dr Pablo waived his surgical fees and Hospital Del Rio gave HKIE a significant discount! Thank You!
Both children will have improved lives thanks to our generous donors.

Kids 344,345 346 347, 348
Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) will sponsor five children for this medical camp. If the families learn how to help their children control their Diabetes now they won't be our patients later! This is our version of a medical preemptive strike!
More on the five kids we are sponsoring in a future post..

Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) Update
Pictured is little Victor....before his cleft lip surgery 2 1/2 years ago and now. We don't often get a chance to see many of the children after they have had their surgeries and gone on with their lives. These photos show what an incredible difference your donations can make in a child's life.

Pictured is 8 year old Kelli. She has had minimal vision in her left eye since birth. Unfortunately she needed treatment and glasses to allow her brain to "see" through that eye. The doctors at this point could only give her glasses to increase vision in the left eye to 50%. Fortunately with her other eye at 20/20 she will be able to cope. Thank you Exilaser and Dr. Giuseppe Miotto for waiving the eye exam fee and for the generous discount for her glasses!
Also pictured is 13 year old Luis. Last week Dr Pablo Performed surgery on his nose and repaired his lip at Hospital Del Rio.
As he always does, Dr Pablo waived his surgical fees and Hospital Del Rio gave HKIE a significant discount! Thank You!
Both children will have improved lives thanks to our generous donors.

Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) Child 342 and 343
Pictured is 3 month old Matias with an obviously severe cleft lip. Thanks to the skill and generosity of Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina and Hospital del Rio he can grow up without that stigma.
Also shown is Miguel who at 18 months had his cleft palate repaired by Dr Pablo and will now be able to learn how to speak correctly.
Neither of these two children would have recieved these needed surgeries without the generosity of our HKIE supporters!