Little Liberian Girl Gets New Arm

A tiny little girl, a casualty of Liberia's fierce civil war, now has a new prosthetic arm.

Toward the end of the country's second civil war in 2003, shells were falling randomly on the capital, Monrovia. One struck the home of Musu Gertee's family, tearing away the little girl's right arm below the elbow.

According to a story by reporter Charles Sheehan in the Chicago Tribune May 11, Photographer Kuni Takahashi, then working in Liberia for the Boston Herald , saw the destroyed home and drove Musu and her family to a hospital. He took her photo as the terrified little girl, just six years old at the time, was led toward an operating room.

Now thanks to a combination of circumstances involving the recently elected Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Oprah Winfrey; Takahashi; and Michael Lewis, CPO, owner of Acme Orthotic and Prosthetic Laboratories in Chicago, Illinois, Musu traveled about 5,200 miles to Chicago and received her new arm early in May.

The story began when Takahashi, who now works for the Chicago Tribune , was reunited with Musu last year and photographed her for a story about the children of the civil war. Representatives of the Oprah Winfrey Show had seen the story and contacted Sirleaf's staffto see if they knew about the little girl. After a search of schools in Monrovia, Musu was found, and she flew with Sirleaf to Chicago for taping an interview with Oprah.

Chicago's Liberian community had approached Lewis, who agreed to donate services and the prosthesis.

David King, BOCP, who examined Musu, was delighted that such a damaging wound had not left much scarred tissue, and that Musu, who weighs in at just under 49 lb., was an excellent candidate for prosthesis. Now, with her new prosthesis, Musu will be able to do things that most people simply take for granted, such as holding a glass while turning on a water faucet.

However, a hitch developed as far as being on the set of the Oprah Show ; minors are not allowed. So Takahashi and another reporter were asked to look after her while the president's interview was being taped at Harpo Studios. The two took Musu on a tour of the city, including the famous Navy Pier amusement park.

She and the two Tribune staffers arrived a bit early at the studio while a video about Liberia and Musu was being shown. Sirleaf mentioned to Winfrey that Musu was in the next room, and soon, the Tribune story reported, Oprah was carrying Musu on stage before the cameras. The audience loved her.

Several hours later, the little girl was on her way back to her family in Liberia, but was scheduled to return soon for the final fitting of her new arm.

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Little Liberian Girl Gets New Arm

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