A Samaritan’s Purse surgical team rekindles hope for dozens of patients in southeastern Africa through orthopedic surgery.
Steven rushed to find shelter as the rain and wind intensified. What began as a gentle shower, quickly turned into a dangerous storm. When it started, the 14-year-old boy was playing soccer with his friends and gave no thought to the dark clouds that loomed overhead.
He soon entered his friend’s house, a hut held together by clay and rock, where he thought he was safe. Suddenly, however, the house collapsed on itself. The thatched roof and feeble walls caved in, leaving Steven with no way to escape.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” Steven recounted. “The walls and the roof started to fall, and one of the big stones fell on the side of my leg. That is the last thing I remember before I woke up in the hospital.”
A rock broke Steven’s right femur and another struck his head, causing him to fall unconscious. His father, James, heard the news and rushed to save his son.
“I ran fast to the house. I had to see my boy,” he said.
Steven and his father traveled from Mchinji, a town nearly 100 miles from Nkhoma Hospital, to receive vital surgery.
Finding Help
Because of the lack of sophisticated health care in Steven’s home country of Malawi, an injury of this severity usually lasts a lifetime—or can even lead to death. Boys and men in Steven’s culture are often relied upon for physical labor and, for a boy whose life was just beginning, his bright future seemed to fade.
After being referred to three hospitals, all of which were overrun and had no means to help, Steven’s father heard about a World Medical Mission orthopedic surgery team that Samaritan’s Purse was sending to Nkhoma Hospital in Malawi. Immediately, he left for Nkhoma with his son.
Dr. Lee McCluskey, an orthopedic surgeon from the state of Georgia who has served with World Medical Mission since 2004, operated on Steven’s femur within days of him arriving. Only two days later, Steven could stand on his feet again.
Steven couldn’t contain his smile as he walked only days after surgery with the help of physical therapist Kemp Laidley.
“I know that God never fails,” James said after the surgery. “Despite my son’s broken leg, and the issues that followed, I still chose to believe that God is good.”
His son agreed. “I am going to tell my friends that I have seen God help me,” said Steven after the surgery.
Steven aspires to be a policeman when he grows up. “I want to catch thieves,” he said with a smile on his face, knowing that despite the accident, his dream still lives.
Steven can soon return to school, and to playing soccer with his friends again.
Training Local Surgeons
Steven was among 44 patients who received orthopedic care during the two weeks our surgical team was in Malawi. In addition to providing surgeries that would otherwise be impossible in the African nation, our team took the time to teach the local resident surgeons by having them participate in the procedures alongside our doctors.
A Malawian resident surgeon participated in each surgery. Our doctors took the time to teach them along the way.
“We are here to come alongside the surgeons on staff and educate them so that they can continue these surgeries long after we leave,” said Dr. Greg Hellwarth, another World Medical Mission surgeon who worked with Dr. McCluskey during the trip. Hellwarth continued, “Hopefully these residents will be doing these surgeries even better than us 10 years from now.”
Beyond providing life-changing surgery and essential training, our eight-person orthopedic team demonstrated the love of Christ to every patient.
“God cares for everyone and Jesus died for everyone. We let God work through us to serve and really make a difference in somebody’s life who otherwise would have no chance,” Dr. Hellwarth said.
Drs. Hellwarth and McCluskey led a seminar for Malawian resident surgeons at Nkhoma Hospital, teaching them various surgical techniques before the orthopedic campaign began.
Restoring Young Lives
Mercy labored every day as she carried her growing son, Alfred, to and from school along with her newborn baby swaddled on her back. Alfred was born with a club foot, a birth defect in which the foot points down and turns inward, that made even walking painful. There is no other option for Malawians born with this deformity other than to live with it.
Soon, however, her 5-year-old son would outgrow his mother’s arms and be faced with the daily decision to either walk in pain or not go to school.
“Because of the way he was born, he has to walk on the edge of his foot and it’s getting worse,” Mercy lamented. “It causes him a lot of pain and his friends laugh at him when he tries to run.”
Dr. McCluskey inspects Alfred’s club foot before the procedure.
Like Steven, Alfred’s bright future grew dim.
Originally, the surgeons at Nkhoma couldn’t treat Alfred, but our surgeons were able to operate on the boy and two other young children, Nice and Gift, with the same deformity. Through a simple operation, Alfred and the others can walk normally and the fear in their eyes melted into hope and optimism.
“I can attest to the love of God,” Nice’s mother, Esther, said. “God is so merciful, loving, and caring. I did not expect my child to be corrected.”
For Dr. McCluskey, it’s changes like that in the young that stick with him the most. He said, “I always remember the children. When I go home and I wake up in the mornings, it’s always the kids that I think of. I will remember their procedures and how their lives were changed forever.”
"I can see a great future now for Nice," said her mother, Esther.
Following Alfred’s procedure, Mercy received a Bible, as did every patient we operated on. However, this was no ordinary testament. It was written in her mother tongue of Chichewa! Mercy had been a longtime Christian yet had never read Scripture in her native language. Overjoyed, she vowed to raise Alfred and her four other children in the Word of the Lord.
“[My husband and I] take our family to church every Sunday, but now we can learn more about God at home,” Mercy said.
We praise God for the lives impacted by our surgical team in Malawi and we pray for all the patients as they recover and return to full strength.
Overjoyed, Mercy can now read Scripture in her native language of Chichewa for the first time in her life.
