Drs. Jeff Widmeyer and Greg Alty are not only partners in a general surgery practice, but also serve together in the same local church and on the mission field. Recently, the two doctors served for two weeks at Galmi Hospital in Niger.

“I see now why people write books about their mission experiences,” Dr. Widmeyer said. “There is so much to tell!”

Dr. Widmeyer’s most memorable case involved a man who came into the hospital with acute pain in his abdomen. Because of the severity of his symptoms, the doctors immediately performed exploratory surgery.

“Upon entering the abdomen, we were met with an eruption of blood that you would expect with a ruptured aneurysm or spleen,” Dr. Widmeyer said. “Eventually, we found that it was a large liver tumor that had bled, but now had stopped. His blood pressure was dropping and it would not have been surprising if he had died on the table, given the dramatic blood loss. Then Greg asked, ‘Is he a believer?’ I reached up and thumped the patient on the chest and said, ‘Wake up!’

“The patient’s eyes opened. I asked the anesthetist to tell him he was dying—right now—and needed to know about Jesus. The anesthetist shared the Gospel in the patient’s language, said the man understood it and had accepted Christ as his Savior.

“As I was closing the abdomen I said, ‘Then the operation has been a success!’ This man actually lived another few days and had time to talk further to the hospital chaplain about this new Savior he was about to meet.”

Out of all the many medical emergencies Dr. Alty faced at Galmi Hospital, he especially remembers a four-year-old Muslim boy named Issoufa, who developed serious complications following a ceremonial circumcision.

“I knew Issoufa needed (an operation) and I needed to talk to his father before proceeding,” Dr. Alty recalled. “I explained through an interpreter that Issoufa had a life-threatening infection, but with prayer to God and radical surgery he might survive.

“Issoufa’s Muslim father replied that it was in Allah’s hands. I stated that Issoufa was in Jesus’ hands and that with his permission, I would pray to God for Jesus to heal the boy. The father agreed. As I prayed I opened my Hausa Bible, found John 3:16 and read it to him in Hausa.”

Dr. Alty’s prayers were answered, and the operation was a success.

“God kept this boy alive and healed him,” he said. “I never got to speak to his father again, but he had heard the Gospel.”

Twelve days and more than 100 surgeries later, Dr. Alty and Dr. Widmeyer returned to Lynchburg, Virginia, with renewed spirits and a deeper walk with Jesus.

“We had opportunities for ‘binding up wounds and bringing healing to the brokenhearted’ many times,” Dr. Alty said. “Praise be to God. How much we all need to know, trust and obey Jesus!”

Samaritan's Purse , Niger , World Medical Mission , “Wake Up!”