“She has lived for nearly 20 years with the prosthetic device. It was her companion since she was born with a congenital malformation caused by the absence of the thigh bone and the knee joint,” said the mother of the young girl Walaa who accompanied her daughter in a visit to the Al- Sham Centre for Artificial Limbs in Hama Countryside.

Wala, a 23 years old girl resident of Hama, works as a sales representative at a medical drug store.

In reality, she suffers from a rare condition of shortness in her right lower extremity resulting from the absence of the thigh bone and the knee joint.

Her first experience with the prosthetic device was at the age of one year and a half, to become later on her permanent companion.

Walaa has long been enduring hardships in moving because of the previous prosthetic devices, which were very heavy and very bulky, in addition to the sounds they make since they are made of iron. Besides, the wooden foot caused a lot of embarrassment to Walaa whenever she came out.

Today, Walaa is the guest of Al-Sham Centre for Artificial Limbs, where she revisited this centre after contacting the supervisors and explaining her suffering from the old devices to them.

They discussed afterwards the idea of ​​manufacturing a prosthetic limb which is quite different from the design of the old prosthetic device which was made of steel. The idea of ​​the new device was inspired by the artificial limbs designed for amputees.

In light of this decision, technical expert Maher Zaatour, who runs the centre, spoke to us about the features of the new artificial limb. He said that it is characterized by its light weight and the high quality of the raw materials used in manufacturing it, as well as its perfect design in general.

Dr. Zaatar pointed out that the principle of the new device is fully compatible with that of the artificial limb, since it is adjustable in terms of height and consequently it differs from the previous one, which is devoid of mobility and is characterized with fixedness (this new device is also characterized by the existence of two feet, one is connected to the foot of the patient so that it could repose on and which, in its turn, is connected to an axis to the ground level where the prosthetic foot carries the weight of the body and is rested on the ground. This method is innovative and it is the first time we make such a prosthetic limb in our centre).

After spending several days in training and adapting to the new prosthetic limb, we asked Walaa about her new situation. She said: “I feel very happy and able to move more flexibly and more quickly. I no longer feel ashamed of the old device and the sounds it was making when I moved and walked.”

The Centre’s endeavour to reach the peak and show its qualifications and efficiency in work was sufficient to help it achieve its goals and to succeed when compared to similar centres. The centre is like a Lighthouse and is indeed a destination for many people who heard about it and resorted to it.