From Tragedy to Hope

On Saturday a young boy in Perth loses three limbs and by Easter Sunday his life is resurrected.

The 10-year-old Perth boy who had three limbs surgically reattached after they were severed during a game of backyard basketball was awake and smiling yesterday, despite still being in considerable pain.

The dangers of ‘slam dunking’ are well known with three teenagers killed in Victoria within recent times. It makes sense that a basketball hoop secured to a brick wall with a couple of dyna-bolts would never pass an OH&S audit but unfortunately most parents aren’t aware of this. The basketball hoop. What started as a birthday party, then moved on to unspeakable tragedy, has now progressed, through the wonders of medical science and it’s practitioners, to hope for a full life.

A hospital spokeswoman said Terry was being released from the hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday.

I’m a bit confused about the tense of the sentence but happy with the result. He had one leg and both hands amputated by falling masonry on Saturday and now, only four days later he is released from the ICU. Amazing. I heard on radio that the doctors operated in teams with the boy spread like an ‘X’ so they could operate on all effected limbs simultaneously. The boy – Terry Vo Full credit to the medicos. Their families and the nation should be proud of their efforts.