Moonlighting for Extremities

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I have a titanium screw in my toe. There, I've said it. It's out in the world. Judge me for it if you must.

This toe is primary digit of my left foot. Not the film My Left Foot. Mine. My actual left foot. I seem to have picked up a habit of damaging said recalcitrant foot every now and then since the first "incident" almost exactly 11 years ago in August 1999.

What happens when you damage your foot?

You go to the podiatrist. 
What happens when you keep damaging your foot?
You get to know your podiatrist pretty well. 
What happens when the podiatrist you now know pretty well does medical missions to Vietnam?
You find a way to help.

Bruce Lehnert in Can Tho, Vietnam
The International Extremity Project is a group of pretty amazing people headed to Can Tho, Vietnam in November for the group's sixth mission. They'll be there for about two weeks and do 40+ surgeries while they're there. They'll correct deformities that have prevented kids from having normal lives -- walking, playing, going to school. They'll change lives.

My part is simple: build a site, manage a blog, do a little editing, and a maintain a Facebook page. Oh yeah, and have great respect for these people who do oh so much more than sit behind a checkbook or a keyboard to take part in the world.

"Like" the Facebook page. Give 'em some FB love. Read the posts from the 2007 trip and see what it's all about. And stay tuned as they're getting ready for November's trip.


My screwy titanium screwed toe (say that three times fast) has given me more than an amusing x-ray. It has given me the opportunity to be a small part of a pretty amazing thing. And I'm grateful for the opportunity.

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