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| Little Dorkas prior to the surgery that will remove the cloudy cataracts form her eyes. |
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? “Neither this man nor his parents sinned” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
John 9:1-7
For the last two weeks A-ward (my home ward) has taken on a
new role. We are taking a break from general surgery and have been caring for
the pediatric cataract removal patients. Yes, you read that right. Kids can get cataracts
too. In sub-Saharan Africa there are about 320,000 children who are blind. Most
of these cases could be prevented and/or cured with access to healthcare. Some
of these children develop blindness early in life while others, as was the case
in the story of the blind man Jesus healed, are born blind. Culturally,
blindness in Sub-Saharan Africa is many times looked at in a similar fashion as
in Jesus time. A deformity or illness is sometimes viewed as a curse and feared
by the rest of society. The leading
cause of blindness, cataracts, is treatable, yet children without access to healthcare
could go their entire lives without seeing.
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| Dorkas' little sister Anna who also had her cataracts removed on the ship |
How does a child get cataracts; isn’t that supposed to be an aging disease? While the majority of cataracts patients are older adults, cataracts can and does develop at any age; many children are even born with it. Cataracts in children has many causes, most of which are preventable. The leading causes for congenital cataracts (meaning being born with it) are genetics and, infections during the mother’s pregnancy such as rubella (remember that MMR vaccine most of us got as children), chickenpox, toxoplasmosis, and cytomegalovirus. Other causes leading to cataracts developing during childhood are galactosaemia (body doesn’t breakdown sugars in milk); diabetes, eye trauma/injury; and toxocariasis.
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| Sister's Elodie, Marie and brother Jacques standing with their mother who had cataracts herself until Mercy Ships removed it when she was 13 years old. |
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| Siblings Marie, Jacques and Elodie prior to surgery |
Over the last 2 weeks the eye surgeons on the Africa Mercy
have been restoring the sight for children blinded by cataracts. The first of
these little ones I took care of all belonged to the same family. Sisters Maire
and Elodie, and big brother Jacques all came to the Africa Mercy with
congenital cataracts, likely caused by a genetic disorder as their mother also
had cataract removal surgery on a previous Mercy Ship when she was 13 years
old. Prior to surgery all 3 children had very poor vision so we were excited to
see what their reactions would be after returning from surgery. The youngest,
Elodie, went first and was still sleepy when her papa was called back to PACU
to be with her older sister as she came out of anesthesia. She awoke while he
was away, climbed into my lap, and very happily ate some lunch. While I was
feeding her, I dropped a tiny crumb of food onto my pant leg. Elodie watched it
fall and then reached down and brushed it off my leg. That was the moment I
knew she could see. Over the next 24 hours Elodie discovered Legos (she is a natural
by the way; I’ve never seen a 3 year old so good at Legos), books and
fingernail polish. After I painted her nails one morning she just sat staring
and smiling at her little fingers, then announced to the translator that she
was not washing her hands during her next bath.
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| Elodie, Jacques and Marie after surgery. They are wearing eyes shield to protect their healing eyes. |
How much fun it has been to witness little ones discovering
the world for the first time. They don’t usually have dramatic reveals,
exclaiming “I can see” to all those near, but it isn’t any less exciting
watching a one year old smiling as he discovers his hand for the first time or
a mother laughing when her little one slaps away a nurses outstretched hand which
she wouldn’t have known was there before. The last 2 weeks have been such a blessing
to me. It’s sad to see this short phase end. Monday starts a busy phase as 2
new general surgeons arrive today and we will have one last phase of general
surgery before we say good bye to Benin. It’s hard to believe we only have a
mouth and a half left for surgeries.
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| Little Elodie checking out her new surroundings |
Prayer points:
Our little eye patients, that they would heal well and that
God would continue to provide for them. Some of them have other congenital
conditions that are not surgical interventions.
A day crew who has been a patient on the ward for a long
time after an injury he got at home wouldn’t heal. Please pray for healing and
wisdom for doctors as they decide the best course of treatment and
intervention.
Our last few plastic patients who are continuing their
recovery at the HOPE center (Hospital Outpatient Extension). That their rehab
would be successful and they would be able to return home soon.
For the energy of the crew, myself included, as we enter the
final stretch of the field service.
That God would continue to use my time here to speak to me
and allow me to grow closer to him.
Author's Note: While I am currently serving with Mercy Ships the ideas and opinions expressed here are my own. Mercy Ships has not reviewed nor do they endorse the content written within this blog. Photo Credit Timmy Baskerville who is the Mercy Ship's photographer who took all the pictures in this blog post.
