Elephant Leg

Kannanyason gets his right leg back
to normal after three surgeries, without
amputation.
had often gotten from other people.
N e a r t h e e n d o f 2 0 0 4 ,
Kannanyason received a phone call
from Tzu Chi’s Malaysia Malacca
Chapter, informing him that he could
go to Taiwan for medical treatment.
Although he was very happy to hear
that, he took it lightly. He told Tzu
Chi volunteers that if the doctors
in Taiwan also concluded that
amputation is the only cure, he would
come back to Malaysia immediately.
Alternative to amputation
the hospitality of the nurses. When they heard
that his mother was hungry, they even brought
hot food for her.
Since that day, the volunteers at Tzu Chi
Klang Free Clinic picked him up from his
home and took him to the free clinic for weekly
medical treatment. After a while, every time
when he stepped into the free clinic, everyone
including other patients would greet him like
greeting a good friend. At the free clinic, he
was no longer haunted by the strange stares he
Kannanyason’s insisting on no
amputation was a big challenge
that tested the skills of the medical
team in Taiwan. The medical team
consisted of doctors in plastic
surgery, orthopedics, anesthesia,
rehabilitation, nuclear medicine,
nutrition, nursing, and volunteers.
In a meeting before Kannanyason
’s arrival in Taiwan, plastic surgeon Dr. Lee
Chun-ta indicated in a presentation that
although he had seen other cases of secondary
lymphatic edema in the past, he had never seen
a tumor this big.
Dr. Chang Yao-jen, vice president of
Hualien Tzu Chi Medical Center, said that after
all the doctors in Malaysia and the specialists
in Taiwan carefully evaluated the case,
amputation was still their recommendation.
Knowing that it was against Kannanyason’s
Medicine With Humanity Vol. 3 January 2006 41