Operation and Hope for Jorge

------------------Photos of Jorge before   and after he contracted the disease.-------------------

Jorge Toro is a young man of 28 years who lives in Medellin Colombia with his family. Two years ago he was in perfect health. then he contracted a bacterial infection of toxoplasmosis in his brain which has led to a cerebral  caused paralysis on the left side of his body so he cannot walk or  speak. I met with Jorge and his mother and brother and saw first hand the result of this disease. He communicates only with his one finger tapping out a text on is cell phone,   What a tragedy for a healthy young man to be so incapacitated in such a short time.  Fortunately all hope is not lost . If Jorge can travel to the Centro de Cirugía Especial de Mexico ( centrodecirugia.org)  he can get the necessary surgical intervention  and rehabilitation to restore some of his abilities. Without this intervention his condition will not improve.   He would need to be hospitalized for a minimum of 6 days.  The cost for expenses to be able to do this would be at least $12,000  Canadian. I am convinced that with the help of many that this amount can be raised so I am counting on you for a contribution, no matter how small it may be.

UPDATES:
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February 18:  Today we passed the one quarter mark in our Goal. Thanks so much for all the generous contributions.
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February 17, 2020:  In recent communication with Dr Salvador Mercado Beristain,  Fundador,
Centro de Cirugía Especial de México, several of my questions about the operation and techniques used in their clinic were clarified for me. I will list his answers here:

1.Can you describe the technique use in your clinic

R: We do multiple muscle elongation through Minimal Invasive Surgery through skin incisions of 4 to 15 milimeters. There is not a surgeon in USA, Canada or any other country that can do that.

2. Where is the best source of information on your clinic. 
R: The information about the work of the clinic is detailed here:
https://www.centrodecirugia.org/


3 . I asked Doctor Salvador Mercado Beristain ---Realistically what is the prognosis for this intervention with Jorge?

R: There is no way to calculate realistically his prognosis, we can just explain you what can be his changes after surgery: His shoulder, elbow, wrist, thumb, hip, knee, ankle and finger toes will be aligned. He will be capable to move voluntarily his arm and leg with more confidence, more precision and with a better movement arch. We have seen some extra benefit in many kids and some adults of more control with their eye alignment, swallowing and talking capacity and urine control. He will never use the ankle splint again after surgery. 

4.   How long would the wait time be to get the operations done at your clinic in Mexico?

R: There is no wait time. We ask people to look for the better time for surgery. For example, he can wait to get a good airplane ticket price.

5. Why can his condition not be treated in Colombia instead of having to go to Mexico?

R: The short answer is because unfortunately for them, they do not know how to do this surgical technique because this was designed and invented in the Special Surgery Center of México since 2006 and every year we are finding more positive changes and we can fix more problems in the same surgery time.

6.  What is the cost of the surgery?
R: We have more than 200 national cases and 100 international cases in a waiting list. The amount of money asked is just to pay hospital medications, anesthetics, medical equipment, oxygen, surgery cloths, etc. Doctors do surgery for free and this amount of saved money correspond to 63% of total payment. So you have to know that we do surgery to help hopeless people that receive a "no treatment possibilities" reply from all their surgeons. The reality is that there is no surgeon in USA, Canada or any other country around the world that can get our results treating spasticity related diseases.

7.   How urgent is it that he gets treated soon?
R: There is no urgency. He can be like that forever this is his decision. Surgery is better to do it in kids before 8 years of age in cases of Cerebral Palsy, but in other spasticity causes in adults there is no better time to do it. It depends on every case and the need to get better once they realize that there is no therapy that can help them.

8. Reference has been made to the idea that this treatment is based on the Ulzibat Method. Is this true?
R: He is very emphatic that they do not use the Ulzibat  method as I was originally led to believe, and in fact they go to  great lengths to distance themselves from that technique which they consider is not effective at all.  . This section of their website specifies that
https://www.centrodecirugia.org/cirugias-con-los-rusos-vs-cirugia-minimo-invasiva-ccem/

9. Are there examples of the success of the methods you use at your clinic?

You can see the different surgeries that we do in our website. Sorry, this is in spanish.
https://www.centrodecirugia.org/revista-ccem-cirugias-que-cambian-vidas/

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February15, 2020:

Today I decided to donate the profits from my sale of Mason Bees and Reed grass tubes at the Victoria Seedy Saturday to the fund so that along with the generous donations of many donors brought the total raised to over $2000

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February 11, 2020:   Update on the medical procedure  required for Jorge: 
The webpage  of the clinic in Mexico  describe the procedure:
https://www.centrodecirugia.org/quienes-somos/
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