Monday, May 8th
What a glorious weekend it has been! I have been able to spend time with some very good friends and was blessed with being able to visit the Maasai man that we did surgery on this last January.
This man is around 66 years old and had been mauled by a lion. They brought him to a clinic and put his leg in a cast for only a short period of time. My friend Sandra works with the Maasai and heard of this man. He was very ill and depressed because he was unable to care for his family because he could not walk and was suffering. Also all of his animals were killed, so his life seemed to be slipping away with him seeing no way to survive and be a good man to care for his 15 children.
This was the patient after surgery.
This is what his leg looked like before surgery.
It is amazing how God works, but Sandra was telling my good friend Fiona about this man because she was so concerned about him. Fiona told her that we would be coming with orthopedic surgeons in January. Fiona then contacted me and I asked if they could send pictures of the man’s leg. When I received them it was obvious that there was an infection and the leg was deformed with the bones not together. I contacted them and told them that they should take him to a clinic to get on antibiotics, in which they did.
Then the chief of the village, along with Sandra, brought this man to the hospital to see us. If you could have seen the look of hopelessness in this man’s eyes and face, it tore at my heart. After Dr. Mark Wheeler saw him, he said good thing he was put on antibiotics or this man would not be alive today, but it was necessary that we amputate his lower leg. This is heartbreaking for us, and a last resort. But the man seemed relieved and wanted the surgery.
We visited him every day and he smiled and thanked me for helping him. Hope Ministries donations paid for all this man’s medical care. I made sure that the man was given crutches and taught how to use them.
It is a rare occasion that I am able to go and visit our patients in their homes after we do surgery on them. What a blessing this was and it was God’s way of speaking to me and telling me that Hope Ministries truly is needed here and we are making a difference.
When we arrived at his mud hut, he was inside on the bed. We were welcomed with hugs from the wives and children and what beautiful children they were. I was able to get a lot of hugs and it warmed my heart. I then walked into his hut and he greeted me with the largest smile and his eyes were happy. He and all the family kept thanking me for what we had done for them. I examined his leg and it looked great and they were taking good care of it. We talked about some exercises he should be doing and now I want to find him a walker, because I think he could get around in his home environment better.
He offered me a goat for what we had done for him. This was a special gift, because he was just getting his herd built up to be able to feed his family. I told him that it was not me but God was responsible for all of this and no gifts were necessary. All he needed to do was pray and thank God for his blessings. My biggest gift was being able to see him happy again and getting around his home. Those sad depressed eyes were replaced with the look of life, love and happiness. Thank you God for what you have done to save this man.
Our visit at his hut.
Him with some of his kids and wife.
