The Power of You - Meet Mr. Ramkishore
by Scott Haldeman
My wife, Joan, and I launched World Spine Care with a mission: to transform the lives of thousands of people worldwide through sustainable, integrated, evidence-based, spine care.
Why?
More than a billion people in the world today experience spine-related disabilities.
Mr. Ramkishore is one of those people.
Stories like these are the reason we continue to work tirelessly to change lives.
File Photo - a farmer in a rural Indian village tends the soil. ©2016 Urszula Kozak
This 58-year old farmer and father of 7 children, arrived at MGM's World Spine Care Clinic in Kamothe, Navi Mumbai, India in July 2018 with severe leg and back pain.
Mr. Ramkishore carries the weight of the world on his shoulders as the main provider for his family. Because of this, Mr. Ramkishore had ignored his worsening back and leg pain for 5 years, until it finally became unbearable and he could no longer work.
Arriving at MGM's World Spine Care clinic, Mr. Ramkishore confessed that he was anxious and terrified. “I can’t afford to get sick”, he explained to Clinical Supervisor Dr. Pradnya Girdhar. “My family relies on me to support our farm.”
Sadly, Mr. Ramkishore’s story is not unique. This is the reality of life in under-served communities where World Spine Care clinics operate: individuals work long, hard days, with extreme physical demands just to survive.
Thanks to the care and support that Mr. Ramkishore received at MGM's World Spine Care clinic, he was quickly able to get back to work at his farm.
That is why World Spine Care exists. In fact, since we opened our first clinic, we have had over 47,000 patient contacts and provided education on spine care to over 600 clinicians through multidisciplinary clinics in Botswana and India.
We want to do more. And we need your help.
Our objective is the same as it was when we first set out over 10 years ago: For everyone to have access to the highest quality spine care possible, regardless of their personal circumstances.
You can help change the lives of more people, just like Mr. Ramkishore.
We want to continue to be able to do this important work - we simply can’t do it without you. Please consider donating today.
Sincerely,
Scott Haldeman
Founder, World Spine Care
P.S. There are no words to adequately express my appreciation to those of you who have contributed to our vision of a better world for the hundreds of thousands of patients, like Ramkishore, who are suffering from spine pain and spine-related disability. I hope you will consider joining us for this incredible journey by supporting World Spine Care today.
