A 14-year-old boy can finally wear shoes for the first time in his life after safe surgery from international charity Mercy Ships (www.MercyShips.org) corrected severe burn injuries that left his foot fused to his ankle.

Tera is from a fishing village on the outskirts of Manakara in southeast Madagascar. He was just one year old when he accidentally tipped over a pot of boiling water — a common hazard in homes where food is traditionally cooked over open flames on the ground.

Although Tera was too young to remember the accident, his parents told him what happened.

“My mom went to the washroom, and I was crawling and knocked [the pot] over. The hot water spilled all over me and that is how I got burned,” he shared.

The boiling water left Tera with severe burns on his legs. With no means to pay for hospital care, his family sought out three traditional healers, each offering their own remedies, but nothing seemed to work.

Tera’s wounds eventually resolved without medical intervention, but the way it healed limited his movement and he had to walk barefoot for 13 years.

South African Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon Dr. Tertius Venter has been volunteering with Mercy Ships for the last 24 years. He explained more about Tera’s condition: “The burn is often not all that deep, but it gets infected and then you get more destruction of the skin, and it just goes deeper. The only way that the body can heal it is by pulling the tissues together. So, he developed a contracture between his foot and his ankle, which limited the movement there.”

Due to his injury, Tera could not take his favorite position as a goalkeeper on the soccer field with the children in his community.

“I like playing soccer, but they don't really like me. I see my friends playing and I want to play too,” he said. “I made a plastic ball, but my friends still rejected me because I can't play, so I left, crying and feeling very sad.”

His mother’s inability to lift her son’s burden weighed heavily on her mind. But when volunteers from Mercy Ships spoke to her about free surgery on board the Africa Mercy®, she did not think twice. She wrapped Tera’s baby brother on her back and embarked on a two-day journey with her children to Toamasina.

Australian Volunteer Ward Nurse Natasha Short spent three months on the Africa Mercy and saw a glaring difference in reconstructive plastics surgery compared to her home country, where “we treat the burns early so they don't need as much surgery.” 

After 13 long years searching for healing, Tera finally went into surgery. A skilled team led by Dr. Venter freed the burn contracture on Tera’s foot in just two hours.

“He should have a normal functioning ankle now, which means he will be able to play like any other child and play sport, especially soccer, and he can wear a normal shoe,” Dr. Venter said.

Following the surgery, Tera’s life was transformed. He got to wear his favorite “number one” jersey as a goalkeeper on the soccer field, the position he always wanted to play.

“Before, I was not able to wear [shoes], I was barefoot in the streets even though it was so hot. Since being back from Mercy Ships, I have been able to wear [shoes]” he said cheerfully. “I am happy because my friends do not make fun of me anymore. We all play together now. The things that my friends can do, I'm also able to do them.”

After the surgery, his father is confident he can now teach him to fish.

“We go fishing today and I put him in the front of the canoe and tomorrow we do the same thing, and the third or fourth day, he can go alone already. He is a fast learner,” Tera’s father said.