MJ Takes Bigger Strides through Life-Changing Surgery
Children are innate dreamers. Their imaginations know no walls or ceilings and can envelope large spaces. But still, not all children are granted the same space for dreaming because of some of life’s adversities.
MJ is an eight-year-old boy who dreamt of playing like other kids do. However, his bowed left leg hindered his simple dream. “MJ would just sit in the corner, watching his cousins and brother play. He could not join them because he struggled to find his balance. It was sad to see my son like that,” Marjun, MJ’s father, expressed.
His mother, Loriza, noticed the bowing in MJ’s left leg when he was three years old, and it kept getting worse as he grew. He struggled to find balance, and he experienced pain whenever he had to walk long distances, especially when going to school. In 2023, Loriza brought MJ to a specialist doctor to check his leg, but she became hopeless when she learned corrective surgery would cost more than their family earned in a year. Loriza wanted to get MJ the surgery he needed, but the high surgical costs made this impossible.
One day, Tebow CURE Children’s Hospital of the Philippines (Tebow CURE) conducted a mobile clinic in MJ’s hometown. Loriza heard about this opportunity through their district healthcare worker. “I was relieved when I learned there is a hospital that does sponsored surgeries for kids like MJ,” Loriza remembers.
