Narshare and her son Kareem are a long way from home.
She pulls a sweatshirt more tightly around her shoulders as she watches her 18-year-old grind through physical therapy 12 days after major surgery at Shriners Hospitals for Children — St. Louis. He casts aside his walker and uses crutches to slowly ascend and descend a set of three stairs.
It was 65 degrees outside, cold for two people from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Having exchanged saints – Lucia for Louis – for the next six months, the two are adapting to life in the United States while Kareem undergoes treatment for Blount’s disease, a problem with the growth plates around the knees that causes severe bowing of the lower legs.