The first red-headed patient I've seen in Honduras made his presence in our clinic today. Little Elesvan was born just about three months ago as the firstborn child to his thrilled parents. There was a big discouragement when they noticed that their son had two deformed fingers, and they had no idea why. When they heard that they could come to CURE to see if there is any treatment for their son, they were even happier to hear that Dr. Bridgeman's specialty is hand surgery. Elesvan's deformity is due to amniotic bands, which is what happens in utero when pieces of the uterus separate and a part of the infant's body gets stuck in those separated parts. Many times the pieces wrap tightly around the child's body part, restricting growth and creating a deformity. This is what happened with Elesvan and two of his fingers plus his thumb, as well as one of his big toes but no so severely. The mama and papa of this sweet baby are glad to know that a surgery will greatly improve the function of their son's hand. They must wait until he is at least six months old, so he will have the first surgery sometime in April. His mother expressed her concern that if she should have more children, will they also be likely to have this condition. She was assured that this is quite a rare condition and normally doesn't happen more than once to the same mother. They left today encouraged by this and excited for their son's upcoming surgery.

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