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TRANSCRIPT: Treatment for Tobias

FULL How a little boy got his feet back

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MELISSA DOYLE: If you blinked during our inspirational story last year on destitute South American kids who'd formed a wonderful orchestra, then you might have missed it a fleeting glimpse of a little boy with club feet walking across the desolate ground of a dirt-poor village in Paraguay. We'd gone there to report on a resourceful community that was recycling garbage and turning it into amazing musical instruments. The children in the village had formed a junkyard orchestra which had gone on to gain international fame
But one mum among our audience DIDN'T blink. She saw a child suffering the same plight as her own. She knew she could help him, if only she could find him. Here's Denham Hitchcock.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This is how this story began - a four-second shot of a two-year-old boy struggling to walk in the slums of a far-off country.

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It was shown in a story we did last year on a remarkable orchestra.

(ORCHESTRA PLAYS BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH SYMPHONY)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Children born in a town built on a rubbish tip, playing instruments created from what we throw away. The orchestra now tours the world. These kids, born into poverty, now playing for the rich and famous in Paris and London.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Oh, this is gonna make me dizzy.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Former Miss Paraguay Fio Migliore was our translator.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Oop.

(ALL YELL)
DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Oh!

(ALL LAUGH)

FIO MIGLIORE: Their streets, garbage all over. Houses made of wood or things that they found in the landfill. But still I say it's a magical town.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: And along the way, we met this little guy. I gave him a tiny koala. I didn't think I'd see him again. But I was wrong. That one shot would connect a mother and her little boy with a mum in Australia and HER son... ..here on the other side of the world.

LANA MAYES: While the story itself had a great impact on everybody, I noticed in the background this little boy walking with what looked like untreated club feet.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Club foot is a condition where the feet are twisted at the ankles.

LANA MAYES: I felt it just doesn't need to be that way and there's treatment available. I wanted to just have a go, see if we could...make a difference.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Lana Mayes knew it could be fixed. She knew because her son Zach was born with the same condition.

CASEY SAUSSY: Club foot is a very common birth defect. It affects one in 750 births.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Zach is lucky because he lives in Australia. While treatment is relatively cheap, it's still out of reach for those living in poverty.

CASEY SAUSSY: Over 1 million children live with the disability of untreated club foot worldwide. Many children that don't receive treatment lead a life of poverty, illiteracy and abuse.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: In Sydney, Zach was treated on the spot. A plaster cast, then special boots that have to be worn for four years.

ZACH: Can't even get out!

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Zach's boots finally came off only a few months ago.

LANA: You won. Didn't you?

LANA: Come on! Hey!

(GIGGLES)

LANA MAYES: I felt if we hadn't had access to this incredible treatment that we have available here to us in Australia, then that's how my son would be walking, and that's when I thought, "It doesn't need to be this way."

  1. There's no stopping us right now... #


DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Lana wanted to help the boy from Paraguay, but how to find him?

LANA MAYES: I felt that the world is perhaps a smaller place than we imagine and maybe it's possible that we could find this little boy.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Emails, phone calls - we even asked Fio to help. Finally, in a tiny roadside shack...

FIO: Hola!

WOMAN: Hola.

FIO: Como estan?

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:..we found him.

(FIO LAUGHS)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: His name is Toby.

(FIO SPEAKS SPANISH)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Lana started a website to raise money for treatment and the donations rolled in. First came the plaster. Then, six weeks later, another trip to hospital.

(TOBY GIGGLES)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's time for the plaster to come off...

(CRIES)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:..and the hard part begins.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: The boots, which will be part of his life for the next four years.

LANA MAYES: Very proud, very happy. I don't know if he will ever understand how many people he's inspired... ..him and his family.

CASEY SAUSSY: Treatment will transform his life. Not only will he be able to run and play, but he'll be able to attend school, earn a living and lead a productive life.

LANA MAYES: All the way to the other side of the world.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Toby may be half a world away, but thanks to the internet...

LANA MAYES: So, I'm Lana and this is... this is Zachary.

FIO: Hi, Lana. Hi, Zach. How are you?

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:..they can see each other for the first time.

LANA MAYES: This is Tobias.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: With Angel, his little brother.

LANA MAYES: We want to show...

FIO: We show Tobias. Look.

LANA MAYES: When Zach was a little baby, he wore these boots.

FIO: Zach. Hello, Zach. Look at him. Tobias also has the same boots.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: New boots, new friends in Australia, a new future.

LANA MAYES: Humans reaching out to humans - just goes to show how small the world really is.