Health crises are a common occurrence for those living in the tropics and even in their home countries. Malaria and other diseases are endemic in the tropics and can strike at any time. Here are a couple examples:
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Jason, December 1981 - We were out on Manus Island in Lessau village. We had recently moved into our new village house, and we were anticipating spending our first Christmas with our Lindrou friends. However, Jason, who was only two years old at the time, starting having a high fever which was soon complicated by diarrhea and respiratory congestion. We treated him for malaria, but the diarrhea and respiratory problems continued. His life seemed to be ebbing away. We called the local church leaders who came and prayed for him, and we put him into the hands of the Lord. We had no chance to notify anyone back in the USA that we were in the midst of a crisis, though we felt that they were praying. There were no phones or even roads within 80 kilometers, and the ocean was too rough from monsoon squalls to travel by motorized canoe to the nearest hospital 90 kilometers away in the town of Lorengau. When the situation seemed most desperate, we heard of a motorized canoe that could possibly take us to Lorengau. But the canoe was not able to reach our village on the west coast due to the high seas. We had to hike several hours across to the north side of the island to board the canoe in a more sheltered area. The trip to town was a harrowing seven hours of fighting seven meter high swells and constant bailing out water from the canoe. The Lord however, saw us through our crisis. As soon as we boarded the canoe, Jason's diarrhea stopped. Later at the hospital, the doctor said that Jason had malaria, measles and pneumonia all at the same time! |
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Lenore, April 1991 - While Bill was out on Manus, Lenore who was at Ukarumpa, started experiencing terrible pain in her neck and arm. This occurred at a time before the advent of e-mail. Also, the Papua New Guinea telephone system was not working at that time either, making it impossible to alert prayer partners and ask them to pray. Bill was able to find out about the situation by two-way radio and returned to Ukarumpa to help care for her. The pain went on for several weeks and only subsided somewhat under the care of a support worker who was a physical therapist and was able to use a new ultrasound machine that unexpectedly arrived at our clinic (from an unknown sender who had sent it to Papua New Guinea months earlier). Although we were unable to alert our prayer partners at the time the crisis was at its worst, we knew that many would be praying. Two months after the pain began we went on furlough in the USA and learned that indeed many were praying for her. During that furlough it was discovered that the source of the pain was a ruptured disk in her neck. Before we returned to the field, Lenore had an "Anterior Cervical Fusion" to correct the problem. |
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Lenore, February - September 2011. While living in the USA, we were planning on visiting PNG in June-July 2011 to provide training for Manus national translators. We got our physical exams in preparation for applying for visas for PNG. Lenore's blood test indicated that she was severely anemic and the doctor felt she must be bleeding internally and ordered a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy indicated that she had two cancer tumors in her colon, so we scheduled surgery for February 28 2011 for a total colectomy (removal of most of her colon). The surgery went well. Since one of the tumors was stage III, she underwent 6 months of chemotherapy to ensure that all the cancer was eradicated. She has remained cancer free since the completion of her chemotherapy. She is now healthy. Although she has some lingering neuropathy that was caused by the chemotherapy we were able to finally make our visit to PNG in June-July 2013 and lead a workshop for 12 Manus national translators. |