Hello. My name is Rosa Morales and I am the mother of a very brave little girl. I say this not because it is my daughter I am talking about, but because at her age she has been through so many things than any little girl should go through.

       
Above left: August 30     Above center: November 22

I would like to share her story with you as I feel that its is very important people should know of the power of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and what it did for my daughter.

A month later we were able to take her home where she made a complete recovery. Amci continued to be the way she was before the accident. However, we noticed that she walked differently, with a limp. Her doctors said she would be like this for a short time and then she would be the same as she was before.

We moved to San Diego and over the years Amci’s limp got worse. One of the specialists at Children’s Hospital, who told us that for some reason after the accident one of Amci’s leg had continued to grow at a normal pace and the injured one was growing at a much slower pace.

Dr. Pring told us she would operate Amci to make the shorter leg longer and stop the growth from the normal leg. She explained that this would make both legs almost the same size. Amci was scared but she agreed to go ahead and have the operation

Surgery was scheduled for March 2005. On surgery day we felt every thing would be ok and that after this Amci would be a normal girl. We had no idea of what was about to come. The next month in the hospital was very painful for Amci getting used to the large gadget bolted through the flesh and into her bone. The pain eventually became bearable and Amci began to receive physical therapy. She was on the road to recovery.

However, Amci began to complain of extreme pain in her knee. The physical therapist explained that the pain due to the fact that her leg had not been moved for many weeks. X-rays discovered that one of the tendons in her knee had been torn off. More surgery was needed to repair her leg. Amci’s life took a downturn.

After this last surgery Amci’s knee did not heal as expected. Antibiotics were and she was placed under constant observation. Still, the wound on her knee seemed not to make any progress. The doctor met with me and my husband and told us to be prepared for the possibility that she would have to amputate Amci’s leg because she had an infection that was compromising her whole leg. We were devastated. We didn’t know what to do. We were faced with making the decision that would change our daughter’s life for ever.

Hope at last

The next day we gathered all of our family together with the hope of gaining some strength. I explained to all that Amci’s amputation was scheduled for the next week. My niece and her husband, Saul (whom I had just met) listened intently. When I left the room, Saul followed me outside and said that he didn’t think Amci should lose her leg. He gave me his business card and told me to call him as soon as I could. It turned out that he was Business Manager of Healing Chambers of America. Later that night I spoke to my husband about meeting Saul. We were both very exited to know that there we still some things we could still do to save Amci’s leg.

The next day I spoke to Saul and asked him if he could please get in contact with Amci’s doctor and explain why Amci should have this treatment. Saul agreed, met with Dr. Pring and she gladly consented and arranged for Amci to leave the hospital that day to begin Hyperbaric oxygen treatment immediately.

Even though the clinic’s treatment charges were just a fraction of those at a hospital hyperbaric center, we could not afford these treatments. If it were not because of the fact that one of the Directors of Healing Chambers of America, (Hyperbarics of San Diego), agreed to treat Amci for nothing, pro bono, Amci would have lost her leg.

Amci began oxygen therapy and the results were immediate. The clinic staff said this was a very serious infection and it would take many treatments for Amci’s full recovery. Her leg began to heal and the infection seemed to disappear but the big hole in her leg stopped closing over. After her 20th treatment Amci’s leg would not continue to heal and we feared Amci’s progress would stop. However, Dr. Grady Anderson, an orthopedic surgeon, advised us that some of the sutures still in her knee were causing Amci’s leg to host bacteria and needed to be removed. Sure enough Amci was back on the road to recovery once again. It took about 60 additional hyberbaric treatments to fully close the wound. The leg bone was now strong enough and Dr. Pring was able to unbolt the big chunk of steel on Amci’s thigh.

Today

To this day Amci is made tremendous progress and is back in school. She is now doing things that any normal healthy child should be doing. Best of all, she is back to being a happy child. It’s amazing to see that there are still people in this world that are willing to help, willing to give, and to share a bit of their knowledge without receiving any thing in return. To me and my daughter, they are all simply Heroes.

I cannot help wondering how many kids have faced the same situation and nothing has been done to help them, either because they can’t afford treatments or because doctors will not inform their parents of this wonderful medicine.

I can’t say how grateful I am with all of the staff there, God bless you all.