Well, India may have landed a spacecraft on the moon, but we restored a leg on a boy.

Zaid Raja is a young man from Bihar state, which is impoverished. He has hemophilia A. Due to a pseudotumor—something you almost never see in the US—he had his leg amputated in December 2022. His father is a farmer; think of farming like in the 1880s in the US. Difficult, back-breaking, just earning enough to get by. And then to have a son with so many medical problems. Hemophilia and poverty together create exponentially greater hardships. While India can put a craft on the moon, so many of its people suffer as if they were back in the 19^th century.

But that’s where we step in.

The US is truly the engine that drives the world, especially in hemophilia care. We have so much factor—though we are about 4% of the world’s population with hemophilia, we consume about 33% of the world’s factor supply. Just think about that. Our healthcare system is commercial, which means there is a lot of consumption—and waste. We try to ensure that nothing goes to waste. So we donate millions of IU of factor.

And occasionally, can assist to buy prosthetic limbs for these guys in need.

Rather than continue to be a burden with hemophilia and now only one leg, we bought a great prosthetic leg. Look art Zaid now! (See video below) Not just mobility restored, but dignity restored. We wish him well, and I hope to see when when I next visit India!

Thanks to the staff at Christian Medical Center Vellore for such great care for our patients!