Starfish

Today I had the opportunity to participate in screening patients at a community center in Cotonou, Benin for orthopedic surgeries and was reminded of this story by Loren Eisely in his book, The Star Thrower. The author finds himself with writer's block and decides to take a walk along a sandy beach where hundreds of starfish had been washed up on the shore overnight. He noticed a boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing each back into the ocean. Observing the boy for a few minutes Eisley asked him, "What are you doing?" The boy replied that he was returning the starfish to the sea, otherwise they would die when the burning rays of the sun hit them. The beach was miles and miles long and the author questioned the boy as to whether he was making a difference. The boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the back into the ocean and said, “it matters to this one.” Eisley left the boy and went home to continue writing, only to find that he could not type a single word. He returned to the beach and spent the rest of the morning helping the boy throw starfish back into the sea.

I was reminded of this story today in the midst of screening patients for surgery as people with various physical disabilities and deformities due to the effects of spina bifida, cerebral palsy, scoliosis, club feet, polio and other unknown causes travelled to be screened with the hope of being healed through surgery. Some people were carried on the backs of family and friends while others crawled or used their arms and upper body strength to be there. I was moved by their dignity and strength. I felt overwhelmed by the number of people we could not restore function to through surgery due to neurological causes for their conditions or to the debilitating effects of polio. We were able to schedule 20 or so patients for surgery, many of whom were children born with club feet.

Tomorrow is the big patient screening day at a stadium in Benin. We have been told that patients have already started lining up to be seen. We are expecting thousands of people to be there. I have heard that the most difficult thing about screening day is turning patients away who we cannot assist through surgery. I continue to reflect upon my reasons for being here and all of the beautiful starfish here in Benin.