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August 8,
2000
By Richard J. Brewer
The Healing Hands Project began when Jane Hunt heard the story of Carol Guscott on a local news program. Carol had been a shop owner in Jamaica. One day robbers had burst into her store, bound and gagged her, and threw battery acid in her face. The acid burned into her skin, melting her face and blinding her. She lived through the horrifying event, but after returning from the hospital she found herself evicted from her apartment, because her landlady claimed she couldn't stand to look at her disfigured face. Carol then moved, with her nine-year old son, to California. n156b6-l0b Jane Hunt was so moved by Carol's story that she called and arranged to meet with her to see if there was anything she could do to help. When Jane arrived at Carol's apartment she found a woman who had been so badly disfigured that she masked her face and neck whenever she ventured out in public. Unable to work, she was living off the rapidly depleting funds collected for her by a local Lions Breakfast Club. ACER ASPIRE 7540-1284 REPLACEMENT LAPTOP LCD SCREEN Jane vowed to do whatever she could to help this woman who had suffered so much pain and hardship. The first order of business would be to find a good reconstructive surgeon and a doctor to attempt a second corneal transplant; as the first one had failed and cost Carol most of her meager savings. This is where Dr. Brian Kinney steps into the story. Brian Kenny is the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Century City Hospital in Los Angeles. He too had seen Carol's story on the news and was willing to take her on as a patient. Most importantly he was willing to supply his services for free. As Carol began her series of operations, Jane stayed by her side, becoming, by her own admission, a kind of "surrogate mom" to the young woman. Eventually Jane's two daughters, Colleen, a Hollywood script consultant and teacher, and Helen, the Emmy- and Academy Award- winning actress, also became involved in helping Carol on her road to recovery. In fact Jane was surprised at the many people who donated time and money to help Carol. "We never asked for help," she says. "People just kinda showed up." Slot evolution can trace loads of gaming devices that were made and additionally modernized. |
More assistance came in the form of the Foundation for the Junior Blind who admitted Carol to a six-month residency program at the foundation. Carol has studied Braille, computer, living and mobility skills. As wonderful as all this help is, Carol will always carry with her the physical reminders of what happened to her in that little Jamaican shop, but if her journey were truly a road, then she has traveled thousands of miles from where she started when she first met Jane Hunt outside her tiny California apartment. Today, Carol is in Boston, hoping that a new cornea transplant will restore the eyesight to one of her eyes, and she aspires to become a motivational speaker. It was during their time with Carol that Jane, her daughters and Dr. Kinney, came to realize that there must be untold numbers of people suffering with disfigurement. They proceeded to form "The Healing Hands Project," a non-profit organization dedicated to providing reconstructive surgery for those whose lives have been forever altered by disfigurement. But they don't draw the line with surgery. They also look to provide the people they help with counseling, vocational training and physical therapy, "whatever it may take to bring that person back into the mainstream of life." Their aim is to help, "as many people as we can, given the resources we can generate." -- Richard J. Brewer Reprinted by permission of OneWorldLive.com |
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