Holly Pietrzak Weekend Anchor/Reporter WDBJ7

5:32 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2012
SALEM, Va.—

     An African teenager from Zambia was released from Lewis Gale Medical Center Wednesday with a life-changing improvement.
     All of it was provided free of charge.
    It was the first of two surgeries for Anderson Mambwe.
    You can already see the difference between his feet.
    A non-profit group called Orphan Medical Network International or OMNI brought him to get treatment for a condition that made his feet grow to a size 17.
    Anderson was nervous going into the operating room.
    The surgery lasted six hours, in which the bones in his feet were shortened and realigned.

"All of the people are very kind.  They are giving me very good care.  100%, more than I could imagine," said Anderson Mambwe.

    The surgeries will bring Anderson relief from pain that nearly crippled him, keeping him bed ridden some days and unable to perform everyday tasks.

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