Good News Stories from Your South Carolina Neighbors

Because of the nature of the work we do, we often write about serious issues regarding negligence, and the breach of trust many of our clients experienced because of a defective product, a commercial truck crash, or an act of medical malpractice. It can be hard to lose sight of the great things that go on in South Carolina every day. We want to spotlight our neighbors who are doing good things for others, celebrating special days, or helping each other through tough times. Today’s stories include a little girl receiving the gift of sight, a woman receiving a new home and some smart school children winning a competition.

Restored vision for a girl from American Samoa

Lourdes “Lila” Iputi had cataracts in her eyes, and if they were not repaired soon she was in danger of going completely blind. Lila’s mother brought her to an eye clinic near her home in American Samoa where Eva Mulitauaopele (or “Pele,” as everyone calls her,) travels from South Carolina to volunteer to do medical missionary work. Pele works with a volunteer group that provides free vision clinics, eyeglasses and dental care attracting upwards of 500 people each day.

At the clinic, Dr. Stuart Hamilton, who is a retired local physician, discovered that Lila had bilateral cataracts and that she was almost blind. Pele flew with Lila to the U.S. where pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Alexander Pogrebniak did the surgery to restore Lila’s sight.

The Spring Valley Rotary Club’s Gift of Life program sponsored Lila’s surgery while several local churches donated clothing and helped with Lila’s expenses while she was visiting the U.S. Lila now has 20/40 vision in one eye and 20/60 in the other. (Live5News.com)

Dutch Fork Middle School students attended the VEX Robotics World Competition

For the third year in a row, the Dutch Fork Middle School in Irmo, South Carolina sent two teams to the Vex Robotics World Competition in Columbia, South Carolina. In a story about last year’s team on WISTV.com, Lola Witworth, one the team teachers described the students’ passion for building and programming the robots from scratch. The task was to design a robot that could catapult a ball across one field and into the next.  In the WISTV.com story, eighth grader Sofia Guerrero, said, “It’s at least a year of work to get it to shoot a ball from one corner of the field to the other. It seems like it’s a really simple task but it’s really difficult to do that.”

Building the house of her dreams with the help of Central Carolina Habitat for Humanity

In Lexington County, three long years of hard work have paid off for Miss Renee Jones, who has been working with the Central Carolina Habitat for Humanity to build the house of her dreams. The project was an interfaith build with area synagogues and churches coming together to build the home. Jones is happy to have her new four-bedroom, two-bath home in a safer neighborhood than the one she came from that was riddled with drug and violence.

Emily Fernald, Habitat’s Homeowner Services Director said of Ms. Jones in a story on WISTV.com, “She’s worked so hard. She entered this program about 3 years ago and she had some things to work on and she never lost sight of her goal. . . of her dream.” Jones put more than 500 hours of “sweat equity” into building not only her home, but other Habitat homes throughout the community.

Ms. Jones said, “It means a lot to get out where I was. You know I don’t have to pay rent anymore. It’s my home where I can pay my mortgage every month. I can know where my money is going. It’s something I can leave for my daughter and my granddaughter when I’m gone.”

McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC is a premier personal injury and medical malpractice law firm. Our skilled team of attorneys in South Carolina handle complex claims arising from defective products, car and truck accidents, healthcare associated infections, traumatic brain, spinal and burn injuries, and a wide range of negligence cases leading to serious personal injury. To learn more about our services, or to speak with an experienced South Carolina lawyer about your needs, please call at 803-327-7800, or fill out our contact form.