Young visitor gets free kidney surgery — and freedom from pain
Medical mission group and surgeon open their wallets and hearts to boy from Belize.
Ronal Soto, 10, of Belize, shows off his scar from the kidney surgery that Dr. Chris Theodoran performed for free.
By By Nate Drenner
Published Aug 07, 2006 13:28
Ten-year-old Ronal Soto made that journey this summer from his home in the Central American nation to an Ephrata Community Hospital operating room.
There, Dr. Chris Theodoran performed kidney surgery on the boy at no cost.
Theodoran, who practices with Urological Associates of Lancaster, met Ronal during a medical mission trip to the developing country in January and discovered that the operation Ronal needed was not available there.
“They couldn’t find anyone in the entire country of Belize to operate on him,” said Theodoran.
It’s a fairly routine procedure in the United States, according to the physician.
Ronal underwent surgery for a blockage in his kidney, a congenital condition, on July 25. He and family will be in Lancaster County until Aug. 18.
Despite a fresh scar on his abdomen from the surgery, the boy was active and smiling during an interview at Ephrata hospital.
And how does he feel now?
“Good,” said Ronal shyly, before going back to playing with a stethoscope.
Ronal said that before the surgery he had a lot of pain.
He speaks some English, but Ephrata nurse Cheryl Stephen, who organized the trip, translated for the other family members — mom Ruth and brother Caron.
Theodoran performed free surgeries while volunteering in Dangriga, Belize, last winter with other Lancaster countians, including Stephen and Theodoran’s son, Michael, an orderly at Ephrata Community Hospital.
Ronal’s surgery, though, was too complex for the hospital facilities in the coastal town of about 10,000.
“They can’t even do X-rays,” said Theodoran. X-rays had to be taken at another hospital, in Belize City, and physicians there wouldn’t undertake the surgery, either.
The nearest hospital that would have performed it was in Mexico, and surgeons would have charged 50,000 Mexican pesos — about $4,500 — more than the Sotos could afford.
Stephen arranged the trip through her “Healthy Church, Healthy Belize” organization, which has sponsored several medical trips to Belize since June 2005.
The organization, which got its start at The Church at Timberline, Strasburg, arranged a medical visa and raised money to pay air fare for the Sotos.
The family is staying with Stephen as Ronal recovers.
Ephrata Community Hospital volunteered its services for the operation, as did the radiologist and anesthesiologist.
Dr. F. Michael Rommel, also of Urological Associates of Lancaster, assisted in the surgery.
Ronal had experienced pain in his lower left back for several years and was treated in Belize for pain and infections. The family brought him to the clinic at Theodoran’s suggestion, after one of the boy’s relatives came in because of an enlarged prostate.
For now, Stephen and the Sotos hope to take in a Lancaster Barnstormers game and visit the Strasburg Rail Road before they leave. Ronal likes trains.
And Stephen and Theodoran are planning a return trip next January. The doctor has already ordered an X-ray for Ronal one month before the physician arrives to check on his young patient.
“Now one of my motivations is to see how he’s doing,” said Theodoran.
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