Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for taking time to read my blog today. I would like to share a patient story with you today during my time here with Mercy Ships.

The palliative care team is taking care at the moment of 16 patients. We visit our patients once or twice a week.

The people in Benin are very welcoming and hospitable. And the biggest gift our team can give to them is spending time with them, listen to them and becoming part of their families. Every week our patients grow more closer to our hearts. We are compassioned over them, share tears for them and share joy with them.

This week I would like to share the story of one family we met during our screening and followed up after the screening. This patient is 26 years old and presented with an open breast tumor during the screening. During the meeting with her we found out that she is 61/2 month pregnant. She presented as very ill and weak.

We followed up with a home visit and during our visit my heart broke to hear her story. She is sick since January and the tumor has been growing fast. She went to several hospitals but there was no solution for. She explained that during the start of her sickness her husband abounded her. And that she is now with her mother and brother who are taking well care for her. She has one more daughter of 4 years old. And explains to us, that her desire was that she would like to give her daughter a sister or brother. So the little girl will not be by herself when she grows up. She shares with us that she is scared to deliver her baby, knowing deep in her heart that there is a possibility that she or the baby will not survive the delivery. I can see her despair and we try to comfort us with words of faith.

Back to the ship we have a meeting with the team and our doctor. The first thing is that we want to do is to come to action. That is in our nature as nurses, to do something we like to fix things that are not right, and this is so unfair. We want to see the baby and mother doing well. We are thinking of options sending her to the hospital and induce the labor so there is more change of survival for baby, but as we look at the consequences we are having questions… the family is not able to afford another hospital visit and what if one of the two will not survive this intervention that would be so sad

I pray and I struggle these are such big questions and what is our responsibility for this family? As I pray I feel that our responsibility is to visit the family, listen to them, give them time and good care of the wound and mother that she will be as comfortable as can be. A small voice tells me that God will take care of the rest. It is not easy to do but as team we decide that we will do the small thing and let God take care of the big things.

And the big thing happened when our patient was 7 and a half months pregnant she delivered a healthy son. Both baby and mother survived it without any complications. They gave the baby boy the name MIRACLE which indeed he is.

When I had this little boy for the first time in my arms my heart jumped for joy. Again I could see the goodness of my Heavenly Father through the suffering. The mother changed from a down cast spirit into a joyful spirit. She thanked God for new life. She is so thankful even though she still carries this terrible sickness with her. The little boy only weight 2 kilo when he was born and knowing that she was not able to feed him, we prayed for God that He would provide. In that week I met a kind crew member who was blessed with too much donations and wanted to bless a patient. We are now able to provide baby formula for him until he is 6 months old. What a beautiful gift.

This week we visited them and she is doing under circumstances quite well, she is getting pain relief and wound care. The little boy is gaining weight and is almost 3,5 kilo now and six weeks old.

This is how we see Gods faithfulness over and over again in our patients life’s. And we thank God for that.

Thanks for reading

Have a nice week.

Love from Yfke