Krissy
| Fourteen-year-old Abu had a good life in the Ivory Coast. Then one day the right side of his nose began to swell. It continued to spread, disfiguring his face. It took an extreme effort to eat, drink and even breathe. A friend of Mercy Ships, Jonathan Erickson, brought Abu to a Mercy Ship in Guinea. Maxillo-facial surgeon Dr. Gary Parker and dentist Dr. Desmond Tham did the onboard operations resulting in Abu’s freedom to pursue a new life. | |
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| Akodekois was seven months old when she had an onboard operation on a Mercy Ship docked in Benin. This cute child will likely never remember the surgery that removed a frontal encephalocele from her head during her first year of life. However, her thrilled family will never forget and tells everyone who will listen how Mercy Ships brought hope and healing to Akodekois. | |
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| “The witch of Freetown” was what Aminata used to be called. The ameloblastoma tumor had completely eaten into her left jaw, pushed up the floor of her mouth and moved her tongue over to where it touched her cheek. It was difficult for her to speak and she drooled continuously. Then one day Mercy Ships Dr. Gary Parker removed her grapefruit-sized tumour removed and inserted a titanium jaw implant. Ten years later, Aminata is still tumor free and making a lasting difference in other people’s lives. | |
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| Angelle grew up as an orphan, shuffled around from relative to relative. People thought she was cursed when the swelling on the side of her face rapidly grew to the size of a melon. After a remarkable surgery by dedicated surgeons onboard a Mercy Ship, Angelle’s life was changed forever. No longer cursed she walks with her head held high. | |
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| A mutant tumour weighing more than 5 pounds caused Ce to live life as an outcast among his people in the small village of Lukele. No one loved Ce. No one touched him. No one would even come near him because of the putrid stench of the mutant tumor. Ce lived all alone. When he was 18, his uncle heard of a Mercy Ship coming to Conakry for an outreach. With heavy doses of love and care from the Mercy Ships crew and after two surgeries onboard, the 18 year old Ce remarked: “I will never forget what you have done for me. My time on the Anastasis has changed my life forever.” | |
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| Nine-year-old Edoh looked much younger due to the difficulty she had eating before Mercy Ships came to Togo. The huge growth distended the entire left side of her face pushing its way through bone. It destroyed her nose and filled her mouth. Edoh’s left eye was dragged two inches off centre and a new relentless growth threatened to block her airway completely. Dr. Parker and Dr. Luer Koeper removed the tumour and created an eye socket, a roof for her mouth and new nose. A few years later in Germany, Dr. Koeper performed another surgery to remove the stretched skin hanging uselessly. A minor surgery was done when the Mercy Ship returned to Togo seven years later. Out of deep gratitude for her life being given back to her, Edoh looks forward to finishing school so she can be trained to become a nurse. | |
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| Hugues, 24, considered his life-threatening tumour to be a curse placed on him by a voodoo priest. Its aggressiveness defeated two previous operations. After a difficult 13 hour surgery, with crew members donating 9 units of blood, Hugues regained the use of his eye. | |
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