Our family was recently in the capital city transferring from our MAF charter flight to a commercial flight so we could get away on a much needed vacation. I always smile at what I can fit into the layover time between flights. In this case, a local charity organization called Nehemia Madagasikara had organized two patients for me to see at their office. Organizational partnerships are so important and I appreciate Nehemia for helping poor families access healthcare. I had already been sent a WhatsApp photo of a young boy who had been brought to come and meet with me.
He was 8 years old and as I walked in I could smell a pungent odour in the room. There was a colourful sheet overing his thin body on the table. I was told this boy had sustained a petrol burn 3 months prior. He lay on the table in the fetal position he had been in for 3 months, pus oozing from the infected necrotic tissue covering a wound over his entire chest, abdomen and arm. I was not surprised at his condition or the fact he was in the state he was. Burns are challenging and expensive to treat. His body was puffy from lack of protein, evidence he was losing the war to the infection of this massive wound. He lay motionless and scared to talk as I asked him his name in Malagasy. “He is going to need a lot of work,” I told his family. Firstly he needs nutrition starting today and we need to get him to the hospital where he will spend a number of months. While there are hospitals in the capital, our hospital fees are significantly cheaper and we can ensure his care does not stop due to lack of funds, or nutritional support. A quick call to our friends at Mission Aviation Fellowship and we began arranging a flight for him so he didn’t need to take the 1000km trip by road.
My heart ached for this young boy. Thanks to Nehemia and MAF, we were able to get him started on high protein nutrition and then flown to our hospital to get him healthier in anticipation of grafting.
If ever I needed an emotional pick-me-up…it is after seeing such suffering!
We operated urgently in June placing a VP shunt. Her head won't shrink with the shunt but the head growth will stop allowing her brain to expand and heal and eventually her head will look smaller when her body catches up in size.
Of all the surgeries I do, this one causes me a lot of angst during the operation because any infection of the tiny tube placed through her brain under her skin and into her abdomen can cause catastrophic complications. Her mother was beaming as I examined at her. "She is talking," she told me in Malagasy. She was holding her head up, her eyes were tracking and she grabbed my phone! Vision and coordination were working! All her incisions were healed.
In that moment, Alida brought me so much joy!
Her mother told me the people in their village are astonished! They didn't think there was any hope for her!
As I got back to my family and our flight, we headed towards our vacation, I couldn’t help but thank God for all those who help give patients like these a chance at life. Thank you to those who financially support our ministry which helps cover surgical costs for families like these.
I love my work, but it was fantastic to get away and spend some time with my mom and her husband who came to visit our family. Our kids were thrilled to have grandparents come see and experience what their life is like. Madagascar is literally the farthest location in the entire world from where they live so we appreciated their very long journey which included missing a flight due an airport closure from a massive forest fire in Canada... JESH
