This post has been reblogged from "Through my porthole". Enjoy!
Victorien’s Mum, me, and my buddy Victorien Pic: Katie Keegan, Mercy Ships
When Victorien’s cheek began to swell, a dentist identified an
abnormality in his mouth and said he needed to go to the city to be
examined. As Victorien and his family live in an isolated area in
Madagascar’s north, this did not seem possible.
As the bump in his mouth grew and grew, Victorien lived with a
terrible fear. “I thought I was going to die,” whispers the 11-year-old. His friends called him Big Chin, and stopped playing with him.
The benign tumour continued to rapidly multiply in size. After
several months his face was severely distorted and they could wait no
longer. The family rented out their rice field, the village pulled
resources, and they gathered just enough money for Victorien and his
mother to travel for the help he desperately needed.
Mother and son crowded into a boat with 60 others. With seating room
only they spent two days at sea, and slept
upright on their allocated bench.
Victorien was seasick and afraid in the rough weather. His misshapen face attracted stares from the other passengers. Finally arriving in
Toamasina, they were met by an Uncle who took them to the Mercy Ships
dental clinic. Victorien’s swelling was quickly identified as a tumour
requiring major surgery.
When his Mercy Ships surgery date arrived, volunteer surgeons spent
several hours removing a tumour the size of two fists. As Victorien
recovered in the ward after his extensive operation, he began to heal
from the inside out. “Everyone in the ward is a friend, “he said.
As a transformed Victorien prepares to make the long journey home, he
is already planning for the future. He is anxious to return to his
friends and longs to play soccer and their games with toy cars. He looks
forward to returning to school, and when he grows up he wants to be a
math teacher – or a soldier.
But most important of all, Victorian is no longer afraid of his future.
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