How a Simple Leg Injury Nearly Took Ryan’s Leg

It all began in September 2024, when 12-year-old Ryan complained of pain in his leg during a normal school day. Within a week, he could no longer walk.

His leg began to swell, and his family knew something was wrong.

A local health center referred Ryan to a larger hospital, where doctors treated him with antibiotics for nearly two months, assuming he had a skin infection. But the treatment didn’t help. Instead, his condition worsened—his leg began to bend unnaturally, and the pain only increased.

Ryan with his dad — now sixteen months since his initial injury, and still moving forward together.

Eventually, Ryan and his father sought help at a private hospital, where a surgeon placed a steel plate in his tibia. Faithfully, Ryan and his dad returned again and again to have the wound cleaned, hoping this would finally bring healing.

But after seven months, it became clear the surgery had failed. Ryan’s bone began protruding through his leg.

Ryan’s father later shared how devastating this season was. A small-scale farmer, he had sold his cow and its calf—essentially draining his savings—to pay for hospital visits, medications, and treatments. He had borrowed from relatives, spent everything he had, and still his son was not healed. By then, Ryan had been out of school and confined to home for nearly a year. His father had lost hope.

Then someone told him about Kapsowar. Out of love for his son, Ryan’s father decided to try one last time.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tim Hereford and plastic surgeon Dr. Niles Batdorf explain the surgical plan to Ryan.

At Kapsowar Mission Hospital, Ryan met orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tim Hereford, who quickly recognized the underlying issie: an untreated fracture of the tibia had led to a deep bone infection. Ryan underwent surgery to remove the infected bone, which was replaced with a special antibiotic material designed to clear the remaining infection.

For months afterward, Ryan and his dad traveled more than three hours each way to the hospital for regular blood tests, monitoring whether the infection was improving. Slowly—but surely—it did.

Still, Ryan’s journey wasn’t finished. His tibia needed to be rebuilt.

Ryan bravely about to undergo his second procedure in the operating room with Dr. Tim, Dr. Niles, and nurse aenethetist, Thomas.

In an extremely complex procedure, Tim partnered with Dr. Niles, a reconstructive and microvascular surgeon, to transplant a section of Ryan’s fibula—along with its blood supply—to replace the missing bone in his leg. This allows living bone to fuse and grow in a new place.

As Tim put it, “This goes beyond general orthopedic surgery. Even for plastics, it’s complex.”

At many hospitals in this region, Ryan would have simply lost his leg.

Ryan in his room post operation, with a circular frame. This frame will stabilize the bone, while also allowing Ryan to start walking while the bone heals.

Ryan and his dad beam with joy after the successful operation!

Today, Ryan still has several months of healing ahead of him. But his father is filled with joy—and hope that his son will once again be able to walk and run like he did before.

Stories like Ryan’s remind us why Kapsowar exists: for families who feel out of options, out of answers, and out of hope.

Ryan’s father has one thing to say—he wants everyone to know about Kapsowar: where healing can be found.