Boat accident victim to undergo 11th operation

Thirteen-year-old American national Paige Welch will undergo her 11th operation today at Boston Children’s Hospital in the United States, because of a boating accident in T&T earlier this year.

The teenager lost her left arm after a boat’s engine made contact with the limb, completely stripping the flesh off the bone from below the armpit. The incident occurred on August 16 at Scotland Bay in Chaguaramas, on Trinidad’s north-west coast.

Since then, Paige has undergone several reconstructive procedures, including skin grafts. But after hour-long operations, the arm has shown little sign of healing.

According to the child’s aunt Trina Aqui, in a recent interview, doctors became frantic after a part of a bone from Paige’s arm began protruding out of the skin. “At first, doctors saw a red spot on part of the elbow.

“Then the bone began rubbing and rubbing, until eventually some three inches of bone came through the skin,” Aqui said. She explained that during today’s operation, surgeons were expected to remove a piece of flap from the skin, and shave down the bone.