Olivienne

Take a few moments to read this beautiful story about Olivienne that I've reblogged from "Girl.Nurse.Ship.Africa.Dream Come True".  The chaplain mentioned in the story, Clementine, is a friend of ours from Togo.

I don’t have any pictures to post, I don’t have a full story to tell, but I do have evidence to share that the Lord is so very present. That He listens when we pray, and that He does miracles.

Imagine that you’re a 25-year-old girl. You’re married with 2 children and you work on your father’s rice farm in the middle of Madagascar. Or at least, you used to. Until a tumor started growing on your face. At first it was a small infection that you figured would go away on it’s own, but then it didn’t. You weren’t sure what was happening as a mass started to grow from your upper jaw bone. The tumor has gotten so big that you don’t even look like yourself anymore. You hope that you could see a doctor who might be able to help you, but the money from the rice field is just enough to keep food on the table, and no where near enough to get the help you need. The tumor has become so large that you have difficulty breathing as it has overtaken your nose and only left a small space in the back of your throat to breathe through. Eating is close to impossible as there’s barely room for food to get into your mouth. You’re very malnourished. You’re very weak.

Imagine YOU are Olivienne…

Olivienne and her family heard about Mercy Ships, and in desperate hope her father sold his rice field to pay for her to fly to Tamatave. She arrived to the ship and was noted to be too unwell for surgery. The plan was to get her nourished and strong enough so that she would undergo surgery to remove the tumor. Plans changed quickly when Olivienne’s tumor started to bleed out her mouth. Her hemoglobin was already dangerously low and as the tumor bled, her airway become smaller and smaller. She ended up needing a tracheostomy placed so that she could breathe. The tumor has continued to bleed some over the past few days and her mouth is now completely packed with gauze to stop the bleeding.

Imagine lying in a hospital bed on a big white ship with lots of white people caring for you. You can’t speak because your tumor has taken over your mouth and you have a trach in. You can’t lift your head because the tumor has made it too heavy, so you have to tap your finger against your bed rail to get a nurse to come help reposition you. Your husband isn’t with you because he had planned to stay with some people in town while you were on the ship but now you can’t get ahold of him.

This is Olivienne today.

For the last several days we have been attempting to get ahold of Olivienne’s husband to tell him that surgery has been moved up. He hasn’t answered. We have 3 phone numbers, yet he’s not on the other end of any of them. Today her surgeon insisted on the importance of finding her husband and to keep trying since she’s schedule to go to the OR tomorrow and will undergo a risky surgery. Her husband needs to know the risks involved and needs to be by her side one last time before she’s taken to have her tumor removed. I had our chaplaincy team come try to talk with her about any more information she may have that we can use to track him down. However, she can no longer speak. Through eyebrow raises and small shakes of the head Oliveinne answered their questions. Clemetine (the hospital chaplain) put her hands on the phone and prayed that the number that she was about to call would ring on the other end. She dialed the number and it started ringing…She prayed again that someone would answer… AND HE DID!!!

Olivienne’s husband is on his way to the ship now. To sit by her side tonight. To be her support as she is more scared than she has ever been before. He is an answer to prayer. He is evidence that our God is ever faithful; that He cares about the things we care about; and that sees his daughter..sitting in a foreign hospital bed, with a tube in her throat to breathe, scared and alone.

Imagine if you didn’t make it to the ship when you did and your tumor started bleeding when you were at home. That your airway was getting smaller and smaller and you couldn’t do anything about it as you felt yourself suffocating. This was what would’ve happened had the Lord not brought Mercy Ships to Madagascar. Had Olivienne’s father not sold his rice field when he did. Had Olivienne not made it to the ship.

Now, imagine you have a father who knows your every need. Whose timing is perfect. Who gives peace in moments when life seems unbearable. Who feels your anxieties and fears. Who hears when you pray and answers your prayers. THIS is our Father. This is who we serve.