How great is our God

Sometimes it just feels like surgery goes on around us daily, sometimes I am struck at how once horrifying cases can become a normal sight in the ward- at times I sense a desensitization as I go about my work- as the cases I share below which would arouse horror in the setting of home become standard in my week here. Don't get me wrong at many times tears well- and need to be supressed til later when I am off the job. Immence joy flows to as you see a patients recovery. I said it when I came back from Benin- I was shocked to find that aid agencies and missionaries really didn't show the worst photo's to grab your attention- rather they showed the everyday. Well i'd like to share some of the everyday here with you. Some of the photo's will grieve you but my hope is that rather you can rejoice in what a great God we have that gives people amazing hearts to help others and skills to perform life changing surgery.

Before and After surgery- This little guy below should have his casts off soon. Can you imagine how life changing his surgery will be- Praise God for our amazing ortho surgeons. This is the boy I referred to some weeks back who essentially had his legs on backwards- in my not so medical terms :).



Remember Lawson - How amazing is his face! Now that the swelling has gone it is even more remarkable than the earlier photo's I blogged about.





The tumor destroyed his life, separating him from everyone and everything he loved. The people in his village would not sell him food because they said he was a devil. His wife left him, leaving behind their three children. Without work or food, he could not provide for his family.

So, Lawson, once one of Ghana's most prominent football (soccer) players, now hid inside his house.

Lawson was literally at the brink of death as the tumor slowly suffocated him. He was immediately admitted to the hospital ship, with surgery the next day. It took three doctors eight hours to remove the benign growth and repair his nose, upper lip, and cheek. The large amount of blood required during surgery was donated by crew members.

Lawson was overjoyed when he touched the bandages on his cheek ? the tumor was gone! There will be more surgeries within the next year to complete the reconstruction of his face, but the immediate result saved and restored his life.


Above: Ama before surgery shortly after surgery with several weeks of recovery to go.For three years, a tumor had been relentlessly growing and devastating her life.Her husband abandoned her and her ten-year-old daughter. Like so many patients the physical healing is only the start-only God can heal the emotional pain and needs.




Kossin arrived at my first day of screening. Sixteen-year-old, Kossin Delou, spent four years of his life sheltered by his family and kept out of the public eye due to an enormous tumor that dominated the left side of his face. When the tumor first appeared, Kossin visited local hospitals in Lomé, Togo. But his family could not afford the necessary surgery.

Kossin's recovery time


It truelly is remarkable how little scarring is left- notice the but lines follow the facial lines and the scars sit somewhat hidden in the creases of the face- under Kossin's eye and along the side of his nose and lip.

Kossin with his proud father 3 weeks post op.

Its about time

Wow- has it really been 5 wks since I have written- It feels more like one.
Busy is an understatement in describing the past few weeks. Praise God we now have a third lab tech who is taking some of the pressure off. We came here to work and it is great to see so many people helped- but I was wondering how sustainable the pace was going to be so was relieved when a third lab person arrived.

As usual TIA as we say or ‘This is Africa” so there is never a dull moment and many happenings over the past 5wks. I’ll fill you in on a couple to bring you up to date- and I’ll work on blogging more regularly so I know what to write…

Not long after I last wrote a little baby we helped in Benin last year and who I had the pleasure of spending many hours playing with when she was on the infant feeding program came back to us- sadly she died which was a huge blow to many. But she is in a better place and better care than we could ever give her.



The OR staff always have fun- you can see their picture from a crazy dress sense day- it really lightens everyones spirit in the busyness.
We have had a never ending flow of dignitories. First Senetor Gomer from the USA and his wife- a lovely friendly couple who spent Easter with us. The President of Togo and his officials came on board and addressed us- he was greatly moved by the experience and said with respect to Mercy ships “that there are some things that are beyond politics”. A humble politician admitting some things are beyond him- oh my I was surprised!
The past vice president of the Republic of Congo was also on board for Easter- an interesting man with incredible stories of survival during the war and of exile in various countries. He wants the ship to come to Congo- not sure how cause if my geography serves me well (which it rarely does) Congo is inland.



Above: The hospitality centre- pre op and post op care facility run on land by Mercy Ships. The shell of this building was present and Mercy Ships finished it beautifully- inside is a hospital with many wards and offices etc. When we leave it will become a maternity hospital.Yesterday I went with a team to the hospitality centre to entertain the kids. We sang, read a bible story- tranlated 3 times over, colored, played with bubbles and played ball. Now playing ball is paramount and most of these kids had a least one leg and often two legs in full plaster casts post surgery- the older kids have crutches and play ball well. The younger kids have old peices of tyres tied to the bottom of their casts to make them into little shows so they can walk around- they are amazing one their feet- and super cute. No more bowed leggies once the casts are off.


Easter was a spectacular feast- the kitchen cooked up a storm with various goodies from different countries. It was so weird been away from the material world- I forgot we even had Hot Cross buns until they came out at lunch- can you imagine forgetting hot cross buns or Easter eggs with all the advertising back home. Church was a very challenging message- not the typical Easter message rather a challenge- “Yes Jesus is risen- so what are you going to do in light of that?”.

I have a lovely little lung which has been causing me no end of pain for the past month- not entirely sure what is wrong but they suspect I have inflammation of the lining of the lung- very painful and somewhat tiresome. Prayer that it would heal quickly or that we’d find out what is really wrong would be great. In typical community lifestyle I have been picking up every bug going around the ship- perhaps cause I am not getting much sleep in between work. We practically had a ward set up just for crew a few weeks back cause so many we very ill with malaria, gasto…. you name it.

Togo isn’t proving as safe as we’d like with about 7-10 muggings in the past months happening right outside the port gate. The aim is robbery it seems- armed with machetes who can argue- it seems that word is getting around that the ships crew yield goods. They aren’t picky- on occassion it has been large groups of our men who have been robbed. Prayer for safety would be great.


I have included some non hospital pictures for you this time. It has bee frequent that one might assume peeping tom is absailing past you window these last weeks- but fear not it is all above board as our painters paint the sides of the ship. The divers clean the water intakes regularly.

How cute is this baby boy!! He is 4 mths old and has a cleft lip and palate. He initially came when we first arrived and needed some fattening- and fat he came back after some help from the infant feeding team. He had a deviated trachea on top of his other complications and arrested on the OR table. Praise God he was revived though still struggling it looked as though he would need ventilation and a trachea to help him breath. He deteriorated rapidly and so they prepared to intubate his tiny body. The surgeon and anaesthetist stopped to pray before trying this difficult task made worse by his deviated trachea. At this stage his stats were at 60%- risky business for his little brain. You may not believe in a God who does miracles but our ICU staff do as 5 minutes later this little one was breathing properly and had stats at 100%- the following day he was off his C-PAP machine and now he is back in the general ward. Praise God for his remarkable recovery- there are some things mans medicine can’t explain.

Well I shall leave you with that thought….and shall endeavour to blog sooner this time.
Au revior