i was eating tea in front of tv last night watching a recording of desperate housewives (yes sad i know). i intended to turn the tv off but the programme that was on caught our attention and we ended up glued to superdoctors. it was a documentary looking at medicine practice in the developing world where the resources are simply not available to carry out western type surgery and practice.
the doctor being followed was steve mannion. he is clearly a brilliant doctor. but he has chosen to live his life alternating between doing two weeks working for the NHS in blackpool and then two weeks in the developing world in places such as papua new guinea, and malawi. the programme was following some of his work in malawi.
he loves ideas and innovation and had a few astonishing things he did.
- a skin graft where they only really had a skalpel available. he had read about a technique in the war where a piece of skin would be removed and then chopped into small pieces and those little pieces spread over the area needing new skin and the body is such that the skin would grow and join up from those little pieces.
- creating an antiseptic to put on infected sores made up of vaseline, sugar and glycrine – i.e. cheap readily available materials. he got the idea for this from an old practice using honey but honey was too expensive so figured that sugar is what is in jam and preserves it by killing bacteria so it ought to work!
- and then club foot – he piloted a technique that has now become accepted practice in the uk – ponseti method – after a lot of resistance. rather than operating, the foot on a child is simply put in a series of 5 casts that gradually move the foot back to its straight/flat position. again he had read about this as an old forgotten practice somewhere.
he thinks outside the box, searches back in his tradition finding forgotten wisdom, makes do with whatever resources are to hand and this scarcity is what provokes new practice, and spends his life on behalf of those who are poor working and training local people – an absolutely inspiring man and bit of tv (yes even better than desperate housewives).
Great stuff! I’ve been watching ‘Blood and Guts : A History of Surgery’ on BBC4. It’s amazing to see how the incredible barbarities of the pioneer surgeons have developed into bread and butter life saving procedures we take for granted today. Raises loads of questions about the ethical side of experimental medicine/surgery. As long as this guy doesn’t resurrect the technique of lobotomising with and ice-pick!
…and a mallet!
I was moved as well. I wonder how I can help or donate some money to his hospital in malawi.
Do you know how?
iasnaia
I saw this programme too, and was amazed… Haven’t yet found a way to help/dontae, but found the following contact details, including EMAIL…
Steve Manion, MA, MChir
Malawi Against Physical Disability
P.O. Box 30333
Lilongwe 3 Malawi
SteveJMannion@aol.com
…or go to http://www.feetfirstcharity.org/index.htm
They have a “you can help” section!
if you missed it it’s available on the bbc iplayer for people in the uk for the next few days.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00d9g03/
WONDERFUL.
What a fantastic programme. What a fantastic, modest, man. I didn’t want the programme to finish. Well done Doctor Steve.
I was overwhelmed by this man, all the money collected by charities which we are really unsure about ( we never find out how its spent!!) if ever there was a good cause it is this, this man should be given every help & there should be a charity for his work.
the charity supporting this work is called First Feet, I was able to make a donation from there via paypal.
hope this helps to bring more donations in
This is the link to steve mannions web site with links on how to help or donate money. http://www.feetfirstcharity.org
My collegues and I at a local lancashire hospital, work with Steve and admire him very much. Any monetary help you can give would be so appreciated. We ourselves are having an in house competition to raise some money for him
Thank you Johnny Baker for writing about Steve Mannion, an extraordinary, inspiring man, and his unforgetable work.
I was so upset by the young farmer who could no longer tend the land hence feed his family, so was forced – infection in cut-up ankles he could no longer walk on already set in – to leave his aged father and wheel himself 20-something miles in desperate need of help. I have never forgotten.
I have recently taken up running and for my first race raising funds for Feet First seemed was an obvious choice. If that farmer can wheel himself 20 miles, I can bloody-well run 10k! How lucky we are.
Your blog has led me to the charity name + links to the programme so I can also spread the word. Good on you!
Nic xx
nic thanks for writing – good on you. glad the blog has a few positive uses!!
I came across this while looking for Steve’s charity online. It is now at http://www.feetfirstworldwide.com. My son was treated in London with Ponseti treatment and it is nothing short of miraculous, I know that Steve Mannion still travels the world training others in this method and still needs funds and support. It is fantastic work
This is awesome! I will definitely keep an eye out for this show, kinda sounds like the Macgyverof medicine!
yes..I know Dr. Manion and how he physically holds a blade to get the position of a neglected clubfoot..he’s relly brilliant and saving alot of lives in many developing countries around the world recently.
Sieland Banda
Papua New Guinea