New patients

We're winding down with the outreach in Liberia but you'd never know it because we are still getting new patients every week! Last week, we received a new patient named George who was 15 years old. When he came to the ship seeking treatment, he was already so weak he couldn't even walk - his uncle carried him onto the ship. He had Burkitts lymphoma (a fast-growing cancer) and it had only started growing 3 weeks prior. We took him to St. Joseph's hospital on Wednesday to start chemo and on Sunday he passed away at the hospital. On Monday morning, we phoned his mother to see how he was doing (we were on the way to the hospital to visit him) and she told us he passed away. So instead we went to visit her to support her. It seems like we've done this a lot lately.

Tomorrow, we are getting another patient with Burkitts lymphoma who is 19 years old. His name is Gbah. He is also too weak to walk and has much pain in his abdomen (exactly the same as George) so I'm not very hopeful about his prognosis. We will be taking him to the hospital in the morning to start chemo.

I know I've said in the past that there is no cancer treatment here in Liberia and that is 99% true. However, a Mercy Ships doctor procured some chemo drugs last year but they are chemo drugs that work only for Burkitts lymphoma. So any person who comes to the ship and gets a diagnosis of Burkitts gets free chemo treatment at a local hospital who we have arranged to administer the drugs. But it's not a guarantee - almost all of our patients who are getting this chemo have died.

We also got a new patient today named Fatmata. She is 67 years old with some kind of cancer (the exact type is unknown but it's not Burkitts). We visited her today along with her daughter and son-in-law and went through the whole explanation about her diagnosis and prognosis (she is going to die from it). When they asked whether there was any medicine anywhere for this disease, we had to give them an answer that is difficult for anyone to hear. We have to tell them that, yes, there is medicine for this disease but only in places like America, and England, and Australia but not anywhere in West Africa.

Fatmata and her family are Muslims and they welcomed us, as Christians, with open arms (and hopefully we did the same). They were so grateful that we cared enough to come and visit them even with bad news. Fatmata cried and cried but she also just kept saying thank you, thank you for coming. At the end, we did tell them we are Christians (I'm sure they knew this because it's very evident to anyone who comes to the ship which she had) and asked if they would allow us to pray for them. Surprisingly they did!

I'm only pointing this out because this is the first time I have personally sat face to face with a Muslim family where God was any part of the discussion. And, at least in the U.S., we are so inundated with negative news stories about Muslims that it was a really good experience for me to meet this family and see how they are normal, everyday people just trying to make their way in the world. It was good to be able to hug Fatmata and to put our arms around her while she cried and to just love her for who she is, a person created in the image of God.

I'm going to end with a few photos so that I end this post with something upbeat - I know my posts can be depressing and sad sometimes so I'm trying to balance it with something to make you smile!

This says 'to be a man is not easy.' Sorry men but it is way, way harder to be a woman in Liberia than a man.

I'm not sure why but this made me really laugh! So does this mean the dog is good during the day?? And how are they supposed to see this at night when there are no lights because they have no electricity? And I'm glad they have the arrow or someone might miss the words below it!

Peace,

Michele