Her Strength

Perhaps some of you are wondering what has happened to my beloved patient Angelique. Her story began here. When we first met her she looked emaciated and like we were her very last hope.

Sometimes our patients here are quite complicated. Angelique was one of them. Since we met her in December she has had three surgeries, each time removing tumour growing in the space where her cheek bone was and each time the pathologist has reported that the tumour has been something different, rather unidentifiable or non-specific.

No matter what the results have been, eventually we saw Angelique begin to thrive, thanks to your prayers! She has put on a good amount of weight and looks healthy. She is lively and energetic. She is taking care of her three year old son again (one son stills lives in the village they came from) and able to live without her mother’s constant help. The day crew in the ward love to sit and have a joke with her and comment on how funny she is! She giggles and laughs out loud frequently, which thrills me.

During her last admission, I would look at her laying on her bed, knowing how far she’s come and feel my heart catch in my throat threating tears of joy to spill over. God is so good.

I said from the very beginning of Angelique’s admission, that before the ship sails away I wanted to see her hair, that was whispy, brown and barely growing, so thick in tight, black curls that she’d be able to have it braided and a weave put in.  Her hair is growing now and when I sat with her on deck 7 one afternoon last week, I tried to put her new curls in a braid. It was a little too short still, but it’s so much thicker than it was- well on the way to a weave!

I don’t know what the rest of Angelique’s life looks like, whether the tumour will ever grow back or if she’ll stay healthy, but it’s not up to me, nor Mercy Ships to make sure. We have done what we can while she’s been with us. We have loved her, cherished her, encouraged her, prayed for her and more. In return we have be blessed by her and her strength to stand against such odds, to fight for her life, to not give up but to push forward. Many days she would join u at our 2pm prayer time in the ward, standing by us as we prayed for her and the others recovering on the ward. Little does she know but she has changed each one of our lives by her strength to not give up.

photo taken before her last surgery.