Center fits brace for Haitian girl's ski trip

Ornichleel Ulysse doesn't say a word as her mother describes how the 11-year-old lost her leg in Haiti's January earthquake. She is too shy and too traumatized, her mother, Marielle Ulysse, says.

Instead, the little girl, tears often in her eyes, is trying to move past the incident that left her without her right leg.

"Even now I can't say it doesn't hurt," Marielle Ulysse, 37, said Friday of life for the family after the amputation. "But since she got the leg, she's been happier."

Friday, Ornichleel visited A Step Ahead Prosthetics, a Hicksville center that fitted her with a prosthetic leg in May and this time around with a brace. The center has pledged to provide her with free care until she is an adult.

The visit was a stop on Ornichleel's way to the Hartford Ski Spectacular at Breckenridge, Colo., where she and hundreds of others with prosthetic limbs will learn how to ski.

Erik Schaffer, president of A Step Ahead, fitted the brace that will help Ornichleel by allowing her to use her hips instead of knees to steer the skis.

"We hope that by focusing on her ability, she'll find success," said Kelly Carter, spokeswoman for The Hartford, a financial services company based in Hartford that sponsors the event.

Marielle Ulysse said Ornichleel, the oldest of her three children, lost her leg when a wall from their home fell on her during the Jan. 12 earthquake. For hours, Ulysse said she carried her semiconscious daughter to various hospitals that were overwhelmed with patients.

When they finally reached a doctor, he bandaged the leg and gave the girl pain medication, but a week later Ornichleel's leg was badly infected. A second doctor advised that Ornichleel's leg would have to be amputated, her mother said.

The family agonized over the decision. Eventually, Ornichleel, then 10, spoke up. "She said, 'Cut my leg so I can live,' " Ulysse recounted.

Almost a year later, Ornichleel is still adjusting. She enjoys drawing and playing soccer with her brothers, ages 9 and 4, her mother said. "We've learned that life is not over," she said. "It's God's plan for her."

Ornichleel's mother said that despite her silence, her daughter is excited to make the ski trip. "It will be a beautiful experience," she said in Haitian Creole. "I can't wait to see how Ornichleel will handle herself in the snow."