17-year-old Cricel was born with a clubfoot. At first, she limped as she walked on the side of that foot. As she got older, she was forced to use crutches to get around. “I remember in fifth grade I got bullied a lot. They would imitate my limp and constantly called me ‘Cripple.’ That hurt me so much, but I still stayed in school.’”

“My daughter came home from school crying and I couldn’t do anything,” Cricel’s mom Edwina told us. “So I cried with her.”

Cricel’s mom tried to find help for her daughter. But medical care is scarce on the remote island in the Philippines where they live. “The doctor on our island said that we would have to pay to take her to a big city AND we would have to pay for her treatment. We didn’t have the money.”

Then, Operation Blessing met Cricel through a

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