Rick Hodes: Doing the Impossible

The following is an update from Dr. Rick Hodes who works in Africa with children who have severe scoliosis or kyphosis from tuberculosis or birth defects. As the medical director of Ethiopia for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), he has given countless children a new sense of self. Last year, four of his patients were paralyzed. They are now walking.

Dr. Hodes delivered Brandeis University’s 2013 commencement address. During this speech he describes his fascinating career and recites a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly, you are doing the impossible."Dr. Hodes was featured in Making the Crooked Straight (winner of Mountainfilm’s Moving Mountains Prize in 2009) and has spoken at Mountainfilm in Telluride many times.

Our JDC program has set a world record: We've been informed that nobody on the planet has had 13 kids in traction at once! These brave kids leave their families, fly 2,600 miles to Accra, have four holes drilled in their skulls, then spend months in traction and therapy before undergoing up to 14 hours of surgery with some of the finest surgeons in the world.

Recently, 35 Ethiopians were in Ghana for spine surgery, including the record-setting 13 kids who were in traction to slowly stretch their spines before corrective surgery. One boy, Tesfaw, went to Ghana paralyzed and is now walking on his own.

We are now dealing with the most complex and deformed spine patients on the planet and able to give them back their lives. We’re also helping generate important new knowledge about complex spine disease and how it can be treated.

Learn more about Rick Hodes and his work.

Making the Crooked Straight Trailer