flavours of asia

Wendy tells the story of a young man’s life that was turned around by a short stay at her hospital

We had a young boy of 15 who came to us for palliative management on 29 December. His story is one of great sadness; since he and his little sister were orphaned, they had been trafficked, and he had been sexually abused.

When he came to us from another hospital, he had not been treated with the correct medications for his pneumonia, which came on top of a birth atrial septal defect. If he had been born in the US or the UK, he would probably have had corrective heart surgery when he was still an infant, but here, for an orphan boy, there is no funding or opportunity for that.

It seemed like he came to us to die, and we wanted to provide a place for him when other doors were closed to him. We are the only hospital in the whole country to offer patients palliative care admission. The orphanage managers wanted a safe place for him to die and to be able to receive visitors. There is a great fear of death within organisations here. If someone dies, they are worried there will be a consequent government investigation and punitive measures taken, such as being closed down. The orphanage staff were, therefore, scared that he would die in their building.

He was in much pain and distress, struggling to breathe. Thank God we were able to medicate him effectively because we had some donated morphine. Morphine is very difficult to obtain since we are not a government hospital. We treated his infection, gave him pain relief, talked with him about Jesus, and prayed for him. On his second day with us, he made a decision to accept Jesus as Lord. All praise to the King of Kings! We saw him come to greater peace and less anxiety. He enjoyed listening to the praise songs when a church gathered downstairs in the patient waiting area on Sunday. He regained strength, improved, played on his phone, and started talking more. It seemed like he began to feel safe. Over a week later, he was able to return to his home in the orphanage, which seemed like a miracle after his poor prognosis when he first came to us. He continues to do well.

God made a way to bless this boy through our hospital, and we were blessed to be a part of how God worked his Kingdom out in the boy’s life. We had just enough morphine for his six-day stay with us, and we had staff who were moved to compassion to say yes to accepting him, even though it meant working extra unscheduled hours to care for him and give him rest. As a team, we were able to see him blessed, meet God, and receive peace, hope, and healing. It is a privilege that God entrusts this work of love to us, and we thank and praise him for it.

 Wendy L is a nurse educator working in a mission hospital in Southeast Asia