It will be the best ever Christmas gift for an 18 year old Fijian national as he will be taking his first steps years after a careless operation left him crippled.
While most people reach this milestone when they are toddlers, Varayame Batini had to wait a grueling 18 years to walk for the first time in his life.
Batiki who lives in Rakiraki spent the last 10 months in New Zealand undergoing a series of operations to enable him to walk.
He thought he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Batini was just six months old when an operation to heal a wound on his back went horribly wrong and resulted in his feet turning inwards.
His feet were amputated in September and he then learned to walk on his “stumps”.
Batini is returning home tomorrow to Fiji, where he will be able to hug his friends and family, standing, at eye level with them, for the first time.
Story by: Filipe Naikaso
Source: stuff.co
18yr old walks for the first time
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