The earthquake that took so many lives also changed countless others forever.

 

22-year-old Maga lost both her feet — they were crushed when a wall fell on her. She is grateful for the care she's receiving.

 

[Maga, Double Amputee]:

"The doctors give me medicine for pain if I need it.  I get an IV every afternoon."

 

According to doctors in Haiti, tens of thousands of people may lose their limbs due to the the January 12 quake — either through injury or gangrenous infections.  

 

The new generation of amputees, many of them young, will need expensive care — care that was widely unavailable to most Haitians even before the quake hit the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

 

But Port-au-Prince hospitals are stretched beyond their limit, even with additional aid. Local doctor Oda Mukkuaka says that he is worried that care won't continue once aid workers leave.

 

[Oda Mukkuaka, Haitian Doctor]:

"We don't have hospitals, the white people will leave and only Haitians stay here.  They need a lot of help, but there is no continuation. And I would like the continuation if possible."

 

Doctors say many child amputees will need a new prosthesis every two to three years as they grow — treatment which will burden the devastated country's medical system for decades.