When Adrian Lim saw a young Filipina discharged by a local hospital without proper treatment and management for filarisis-realted lymphedema he felt really frustrated.
"If only we had completed Level 3 in Manila, before the pandemic hit. We could have raised awareness, educated, and provided the much needed management for this teen."
That was July 1, 2022. By August we had put together a Full Scholarship for Adrian in a collaboration between Moving Lymph Pty Ltd, Lymph Works WA, and the LKN Foundation.
Adrian first became interested in lymphoedema management when his Grandmother suffered with swelling later in life. As a Physio, and appalled at the dearth of lymphoedema services available and his own lack of knowledge on what to do for her, Adrian was instrumental in instigating Dr Vodder Courses in the Philippines in 2018 and 2019. We were due to deliver Level 3 in 2020..... Read more about Adrian here.
I love it when a plan comes together, and Adrian travelled to Perth in February and graduated from the Level 3 class in March during Lymphoedema Awareness Week. Here is his account of finally qualifying in lymphoedema management.
by Adrian Lim PT.
Belinda Flutter of Lymphworks and a couple of Vodder therapists were very supportive, helping me settle in, giving me a very warm welcome, and treating me as family.
Classes started on the 27th with Jan as the teacher! It was so much fun to finally see my mentor and dear friend once again after 4 years. It felt quite nostalgic to receive a lot of corrections once again with Ms Jan noting that my hands were quite good compared to when we last held the course in 2019.
"Do I deserve all this support?" Was a question I asked myself on a day to day basis leading up to my trip to Perth and the first week of me being here…
One evening, Jan and I spent some time talking about our plans, advocacies, and projects in the near future asking ourselves… "how can we help more people?" During our discussion I implied to Jan that I felt that I was being a burden for having funds for my education since LKN foundation had other projects that need the funding as much as I do. She shared that the donor really allocated those funds for my studies and that "You are worth it and we will be helping a lot more people together moving forward." These words were just what I needed to recenter myself and focus on why we are doing this. "To help more people who have lymphedema, especially those in the vulnerable communities."
Read how Adrian's travel and accommodation were funded by LKN and others here.
Our Level 1 class ended and Koby And Professor Neil took over as the instructors for Level 3.
Professor Piller was very knowledgeable in all things lymphatics and gave very detailed information about the lymphatic system, compressions, lasers, medications, and diagnostic imaging used in the clinical setting.
Koby was very passionate and excellent in instructing us during the hands on and case studies. Our class was also quite enjoyable, we became a community looking out and supporting each other the best we can, sharing our notes and personal knowledge with each other.
By the end of the course Koby told the class that she was really impressed as we all passed our exams, which rarely happens, and our clinical reasoning during the exam for pathologies were spot on.
That goes to show that being a community working together towards an end goal, we can achieve great things.
As I go back to Manila with all this knowledge, good affinities, and fun memories, I aim to share and build a supportive community back home so we can achieve great things together too!
Adrian has only been back a few weeks but he has already begun raising awareness about lymphedema and is planning advocate for people affected by filariasis-related lymphoedema whenever he can.
Please support the LKN Foundation to assist other Allied Health Professionals in low-and-middle-income countries to become qualified in lymphoedema management.
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