Dany’s story is all too common. In 2013 Dany was a crippled girl with two healthy siblings in a poor family in rural Steung Treng. Her father died when she was young and her mother re-married twice. As an infant she learned to walk late and was slower and weaker than other kids her age. Though she and her family did not know it, she had tuberculosis of the bones.

Even though she had trouble walking normally, she desperately wanted to be like a normal kid.  With a mindset of “mind over matter” she determined to climb a tree she had seen other kids climb dozens of times. Though she made it up farther than anyone would expect with her condition, she spent all of her strength.  Without anyone else with her and no strength left to draw on, she lost her grip and fell to the ground.  Although it probably wasn’t more than six or eight feet, her bones were so fragile she broke her right hip. There was no money for treatment so she walked with a bamboo pole.  For a child at her age, with no knowledge or understanding of the disease attacking her bones, she hated her inability to not be like a normal kid.

As though Dany’s condition, subsequent injury, lack of access to any healthcare and constant pain wasn’t enough, her third step-father would frequently come home drunk. One evening, as he came home drunk he became angry at her inability to take care of household responsibilities as efficiently as other kids. In his drunken rage he targeted her point of weakness and kicked her right hip. Her hip became infected and she couldn’t walk for several weeks.  Once again, she determined herself to walk and although she couldn’t put much weight on the right side of her hip, she was as mobile as she could be with her stronger left hip and a bamboo walking stick in her right hand.  She lived in this condition for another seven years. She hobbled to the market with her mother every morning to help sell eggs.

Mak Sou went to visit the Steung Treng Church Home and went to buy some food for the kids. As Sou glanced around the market she saw Dany selling eggs and was struck with compassion. As Sou inquired about Dany she asked Dany’s mother if she could have Dr. Lina (FCOP’s staff pediatrician) examine her.  Her mothers response pierced Sou’s heart as she heard, “This is a worthless girl, you can have her!” No amount of reasoning seemed to change the mothers mind about her daughters condition. The family believed she’s a curse and even if she was healed, she’d bring bad luck to the family.  Without care or concern, the mother agreed to allow a medical exam.

Dr. Lina did a preliminary exam but determined there is so much scar tissue and bone fractures that she needed to go for testing at the National Children’s Hospital. The mother signed custody for Dany over to FCOP and, within a week, was on her to  Phnom Penh with Mak Sou and a few FCOP staff. It was a long trip to Phnom Penh for Dany who had only ever been as far as she could hobble from her house, but she loved every moment of it.  She began to imagine what she would do with the hope that she would be able to walk.  “Do you think when I can walk that I can start to dance? I would love to dance.” Tears of joy came and went as Dany was expressed she was amazed that someone was helping her.

In Phnom Penh, under the care of FCOP, she had several surgeries to drain more than a gallon of pus from her hip, pin the pelvis, and began a yearlong treatment for tuberculosis.  This was a lot for a young girl to go through.  Treatment was reassessed from time to time to try to see how well she was handling it.  She was positive through the entire process and explained that it was not as much of a challenge as what she had already been through in her life.  In addition to her physical treatment, she has found a loving family environment at the Chum Chao church home.  She believes all of this has happened because God wants to use her life to help others.

Today she is walking, dancing and has began leading one of the dance teams in the cultural performances at church. A fervent believer in the goodness of God, she leads a morning devotion with some of her brothers and sisters at the Chom Chao church home. She has become a beautiful and talented young woman and still prays for her family to come to Christ. Her mother and step-father still reject her, but she has found the joy of the Lord in a new family.

Without FCOP what would become of girls like Dany? Parents are almost never prosecuted for abuse in Cambodia.