STEPS TO A BETTER LIFE.

Byline: - Nicole Sunkes

After she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, Elinor Duimovic, 34, began experiencing painful hip problems as a side effect of treatments.

She resisted taking too much medication, but eventually her husband began administering shots for the pain. She became debilitated by the pain, and it prevented her from doing any sort of physical activity.

``Since I was a lot younger than I am now, I really wanted to have a life, to do things,'' said Duimovic, an Upland resident. ``But economically that was very, very tough because we didn't have the money to pay for such a surgery.''

But her grim situation brightened considerably after she mentioned her pain to her doctor. He referred Duimovic to Operation Walk, a program that provides free hip and knee replacement surgeries for those who cannot afford treatment.

Dr. Lawrence Dorr, an orthopedic surgeon at Centinela Hospital in Los Angeles, founded the organization in 1994 to provide free hip and knee replacement surgeries to the poor in foreign countries. A team of doctors, nurses and physical therapists took their maiden trip to Cuba in 1996. Since then, Dorr has expanded the program to 10 countries, including Nepal, Nicaragua and Cuba. His next trip will be to China, in August, then on to Panama in November.

``We realized that this was a real need in other countries and a real opportunity to help patients in other countries to just kind of give back to medicine through this avenue for all the good things medicine had done for us,'' Dorr said.

The trips typically last 10 days, and involve nearly 40 people and $1 million in supplies. The doctors who participate pay their own travel expenses as a donation. Supplies and support staff fees are financed through donations.

Dorr also brought the program to Los Angeles, where one Operation Walk clinic is held each year. Duimovic was one of 10 patients to undergo operations in March 2001, the program's first year in Los Angeles.

``I think that it's very clear that they change lives,'' Duimovic said. ``They turn lives from misery to hope and happiness, and the job they do is the most wonderful job I've ever seen.

``(When you have a) terminal disease, unfortunately, you know there's a point when you will stop suffering. When you have an orthopedic problem, you could have 80 years of pain. It sounds cruel, but at the same time, it's a reality. They are allowing people to have 50 to 60 years of quality life, (of) full life.''

The next Los Angeles clinic is scheduled for June.

Operation Walk has grown beyond Los Angeles. There are teams in Denver, Indiana, Florida, at Northwestern University in Illinois, and in New York City. During the years, Dorr said, Operation Walk has enlisted 150 doctors, 300 nurses and nearly 50 therapists.

``More and more people want to be involved,'' Dorr said. ``When one (person) comes home from these trips and relates their experience to their colleagues and friends, then they want to go. For almost all medical people who go on these trips, no matter what area of health care they're in, they say, 'This is the biggest thrill I've had in medicine.' ''

For more information about the program, visit www.operationwalk.com.

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Dr. Lawrence Dorr established Operation Walk, which provides hip and knee replacements to poor people in foreign countries, in 1994. The program has expanded to U.S. cities including Los Angeles.