Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Grace

Grace – A Transformation in Progress

You may remember Grace, but you probably won’t recognize her.

Grace was one of our first patients up the gangway in Congo. On September 10th, Mercy Ships surgeons removed the massive tumor from her face. It’s been six weeks since her surgery, but 17-year-old Grace is as sassy as ever – and she’s looking like a whole new young woman.

“God is good because He did a big thing for me. I did not believe that I could be saved, but God has had grace. Mercy Ships arrived in Pointe Noire, they treated me, and I am better today,” Grace says.

Grace’s journey to the Africa Mercy began with an email. A hospital chaplain from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo met Grace at a hospital there. The chaplain, Pastor Gregoire, was shocked by Grace’s facial tumor, which weighed 4.9 pounds (2.2 kilos.) Pastor Gregoire came alongside Grace, counseling and praying with her. He says she was often so distraught that she cried all night. Sometimes she refused to eat or drink. “Indeed, she suffered,” he says simply.

Pastor Gregoire took a photo of Grace and published it on his blog. A reader responded to his post, recommending that he visit mercyships.org, an organization that might be able to help. From there, Pastor Gregoire contacted the Mercy Ships Swiss office and exchanged emails with Christophe Baer. Through Christophe, Pastor Gregoire sent Grace’s medical records and reports to the Africa Mercy. The response was positive. Grace and Pastor Gregoire were asked to arrive in Pointe Noire, in the Republic of Congo, on September 2nd.

Grace’s story is a chain of mercy forged by compassionate hearts, and their efforts were rewarded. Grace will have a second surgery on December 17th. Until then, she is recovering in the Mercy Ships Hospital Out Patient Extension Center (HOPE Center), where she has become the champion UNO player. As Mercy Ships nurses will tell you, Grace dominates every hand – and don’t even think about challenging her to Jenga!

In a few months, Grace will return home and begin school. She hopes to study medicine one day, she says. Grace wants to be a nurse.

Written by – David Petersen

Grace Walks with a New Pep in her Step!

Posted on November 18, 2013

An Update on Grace (looking as beautiful as ever):

On Sept. 10th Grace had surgery to remove a 2.2 kilogram tumor from her jaw. Since her surgery, she and her mother, Christine, have been waiting patiently as Grace approaches the final stages of her recovery. They are currently staying at the HOPE Center, Mercy Ships off-site care center for patients after their surgeries. Grace’s favorite part? “I can take walks again,” she says. She’s happy that this time, no one is staring or pointing at her. We can only imagine what that must feel like!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

7,354. . . . .

7,354 is the best estimate of the number of patients who were standing in line for the BIG screening on Wednesday, August 28th.. In all of Mercy Ships history, this is the most patients ever seen on the initial screening of any field service. Of those, 6354 came through the next gate and of those 4236 were sent on through the next gate and were given patient cards to go through the final screening process. Prayer was offered for anyone not chosen for the final screening process. Some will be seen by the palliative care team.

4236 is further divided into 40% General surgery; 21% Orthopedic surgery, 16% MaxFax surgery, 15% Plastic surgery, 4% Women's Health surgery and 2% VVF or Obstetric Fistula surgery. Incredible numbers.
We left the ship for the screening site at 05:30 am and returned to the ship at 2030 or 8:30 pm. It was an exhausting, inspiring, heartbreaking, humbling, hopeful day for the 320+ crew working that day at the screening site. I was 1 of 18 people working side by side with a translator in the history taking area and I will see many of the same patients again as they are scheduled for surgery and come back through admissions the day before their surgery.

Standing in line

Panoramic view of the line

Waiting to see the doctor

I am working in the history taking area, taking vital signs after the paperwork is done

These are the kinds of problems we can help. . . . .

Rare for goiters to ever get this large in a developed country, but very common in Africa

The Africa Mercy crew! I am in a pink shirt 5 rows back from the front just to the right of midline

The Medical crew for Congo

Goodbye Guinea, Hello Congo

I wanted to give you an idea of the lives that were impacted by the 10 month outreach in Guinea.
There were 2,642 surgeries with this breakdown;
Eye 1,617
Orthopedic 116
Maxillofacial/cleft lip 625
VVF 63
General 281
There were 57,558 Medical Services with this breakdown;
Physical Therapy Services 3,058
Eye Evaluations 13,500
Dental Procedures 41,000
There were 119 training opportunities for Africans with this breakdown:
Surgeons Trained/ Mentored 14
Nurses Trained/ Mentored 11
Other Medical Training 76
Agricultural Trainers 18
The crew also had the opportunity to participate in off ship ministries and weekly visited a men's and a women's prison, an orphanage, and the showing of the Jesus Film, to name a few of the planned outreaches.
After the work was completed in the seven weeks at the shipyard in the Canary Islands we arrived in Pointe Noire, Congo after a 14 day sail. We crossed the Equator at the Prime Meridian at 0.00 degrees latitude and 0.00 degrees longitude and became Royal Diamond Shellbacks! (We had to kiss a fish to receive our certificates.) What a year of "firsts" this has been for me.
Arriving in Congo was quite emotional. Mercy Ships founders Don and Deyon Stephens were waiting on the dock along with the Minister of Health and other dignitaries who welcomed us with speeches and music as we watched the festivities from deck 7. Since our arrival August 10th we have been busy getting the hospital ready. Everything is falling into place. Tomorrow I will meet the 5 local day crew who will be the translators for Admissions and we will begin the process of scrubbing the tent and getting all our equipment moved into our area. The big screening takes place August 28 and surgery will begin September 2nd. I can't wait to start seeing patients!

Last sunset at sea

As we round the corner to arrive at our berth we see a container ship being unloaded

The festive dock awaits our arrival

Don and Deyon waving and cheering

Unloading the gangway from deck 8

Captain Tim goes down the gangway with the Pilot to music and fanfare

The Minister of Education giving his speech

Don Stephens speaking

The food didn't last long being served on the dock.

The new floor in the hospital shines brightly

Before. . . . .

And after!

Yes, I am scrubbing with a toothbrush. A rag just couldn't get all the cracks and crevasses clean.

Assembling charts

The Admissions tent is set up, ready for cleaning.

This tent on the dock will be my workplace

Sunday, July 28, 2013

On the high seas

We left the Canary Islands yesterday afternoon and we are on the open sea traveling south to our destination at Pointe Noire, Congo. We should arrive in about 2 weeks. This is a time of rest, relaxation, reading, getting to know the new crew that arrived in the last few weeks, working our "summer" job, and meeting to plan for the Congo field service. It is a special time for when we get to Pointe Noire we will be extremely busy getting everything in place to start the screening process that determines who will be able to have surgery. This year Mercy Ships celebrates 35 years of offering hope and healing to the world's forgotten poor. Watch the 60 Minutes program on August 4th to learn more about what this amazing organization does.

Goodbye Tenerife; Sunset at sea

Thursday, July 25, 2013

We leave Gran Canaria for Tenerife

We arrived in Tenerife last Saturday and it is the second of seven of the Canary Islands we have visited for the maintenance, inspection, and repair phase required every year for maritime vessels. It was a 4-5 hour sail, not rough, and as we neared the port at Santa Cruz we were delighted to see a pod of pilot whales off to the port side. The Canaries are a part of Spain. Each island is different in terrain and in architecture, each beautiful in its own way. We have been here one short week for we set sail for Congo on Saturday. The past 6 weeks have flown by.