Cancer (see more articles like this)

While here, Mr. Adams began having excruciating pain in his leg and was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma, a type of cancer.  Thousands of miles from home, he was told if he did not have his leg amputated, he would die.  So, Mr. Adams had an above knee amputation at another hospital in Florida, but because he had no insurance and very little money, he was not able to have rehabilitation at that hospital.  On a friend’s suggestion, he made his way to the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute - Celebration Health where doctors and nurses sprang into action.  “With the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute - Celebration Health, Osceola County has a comprehensive cancer program that can take care of all the needs of the patient.  Lateef Adams was clearly in need of physical therapy and follow-up care and we were determined to help him because he had nowhere else to turn,” said David Robinson, MD, Medical Director of the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute - Celebration Health and Kissimmee.

“Clearly, with a new amputation, therapy was not a choice, it was a necessity.  I knew that Florida Hospital had to help this patient,” said Krista Castleberry, outpatient oncology social worker, who brought the patient’s situation to the attention of Florida Hospital’s rehabilitation and billing teams.  Mr. Adams was able to receive several rehabilitation sessions and follow-up care including physical therapy and neuromuscular stimulation at Florida Hospital.  But the help did not stop there.

Florida Hospital contacted ABC Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc. who donated a $10,000 above knee prosthesis to Mr. Adams.  “When I saw my husband with his new leg I was so happy that I shouted.  It had been over a month since my husband had walked.  I was delighted,” said Folesede Adams.  Scott Saunders of ABC Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc. and Florida Hospital rehabilitation specialists worked with Mr. Adams to teach him how to use his new leg.  “This patient needed our help and we could not turn him away, said Scott Saunders, ABC Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc.  “This was just something we had to do to help him get back to his life and to his country.”

Mr. Adams and his wife plan to return to Nigeria this Thursday, February 10, but they say their lives will never be quite the same.  “I will be forever grateful to God and to the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute because they gave me my husband back,” said Folesede Adams. 
 
Video and interviews for this story are available upon request.  Please note the footage was shot on
4:3, letterbox, (30 P).