'Can you imagine'

Matt Lord is one of only four physical therapist for 250 patients at Sacre Coeur Hospital. So many of the patients have lost a leg or arm. They need as much assistance as possible preparing for an uncertain future in a country unequipped for so many physically challenged people.

Lord, 29, who works at Presbyterian Hospital, was struck by the story of one young patient who shared his story on his journey to the hospital in northern Haiti.

An accounting student at a university in Port-au-Prince, Verdou Mensou, 21, was in class when the earthquake struck. He is unable to remember most of what happened, but he says he was trapped for up to five hours when he was pulled out of the rubble. They put him on a bus for victims needing treatment.

Verdou lost consciousness again on the bus. He was out so long that riders thought he died. Lord said the young man told him he woke up in a pile of trash with eight dead victims.

"Can you imagine," Lord says.

When someone noticed him moving in the trash, Verdou was picked up and taken to an aunt’s house where he stayed for two days before being sent to Sacre Coeur.

"The thing I found strange is that this boy was smiling the entire time he was telling me about his journey, which is the attitude of most of the earthquake victims," Lord says,