Mary's and Ramy's Lilongwe Half Marathon for BSSH LION Hand Unit - Malawi

Team: Team fundraising for British Society for Surgery of the Hand
Team: Team fundraising for British Society for Surgery of the Hand
Lilongwe Half Marathon · 19 July 2025
Mary and Ramy’s story
Mary and Ramy are currently working at Malawi’s first ever Hand Unit at The Lilongwe Institute of Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery (LION). Mary is an orthopaedic registrar (resident) in the UK and Ramy is a medical student from Yale. LION is the only hand unit in Malawi, providing much needed specialist hand care their 21 million population. The service involves specialist hand clinics and regular hand trauma and elective lists, whilst promoting sustainability through the education and training of local colleagues. All of this is costing between £90,000 - £100,000 per year.
Mary started training for this half marathon two weeks ago, and Ramy has done no training. But then again, he did run a marathon before with less than 5 weeks of training. Malawi is hot, humid and dusty—so we’re expecting a challenging half marathon. We would be very grateful for any donations to support the Unit’s much needed service which is threatened by ongoing costs.
Thank you for helping us to heal the hands of Malawi!
Story
Lilongwe Institute of Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery (LION) which is an autonomous not-for-profit institution in Malawi. The British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) and The British Association of Hand Therapists (BAHT) are working with and training local surgeons, trainees and therapists to deliver and educate in patient care in Malawi’s first ever Hand Unit.
About LION and Malawi
LION is a new purpose built healthcare facility attached to the Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. It is the largest trauma receiving centre. Malawi has the 3rd highest rate of road traffic deaths in the world. Hand and wrist trauma is very common and often associated with interpersonal violence. Many of these injuries are complex, commonly present late and often neglected or under treated.
How you can help?
This is a 5-year project which involves significant input from BSSH and BAHT volunteers who devote weeks and months to deliver care in the specialist hand clinics and regular hand trauma and elective lists, whilst promoting sustainability through the education and training of local colleagues. All of this is costing between £90,000 - £100,000 per year. Please do support us and our partners in Malawi to deliver this exciting and inspirational project to leave a sustainable hand service by 2028. Anything you can give will be gratefully received and help transform the lives of those who have been affected by hand trauma and disability in a limited resource setting.
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