HIS CLEFT PALATE WAS CAUSING THE BABY BOY TO SLOWLY STARVE

Paul Pascal arrived as a feather-light bundle cradled in his desperate mother’s arms. His skin was paper-thin, his body tiny. At three months he weighed two kilos – less than a newborn

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND THANK YOU’s
to God for the restored lives and new future for Paul Pascal and the multiplied thousands who have passed through the hearts and care of the crew on this vessel of mercy in the past 40 years

Paul Pascal was born with a cleft lip that disfigured his face and a cleft palate that made it impossible to breastfeed properly. His mother watched helplessly as he grew thinner and weaker. People around her called him a monster.

His mother was scared. ‘We thought he would die.’ But her love knew no bounds as she rocked her tiny, hungry, crying baby through long nights. Then she heard that hope had arrived in port.

As soon as the Africa Mercy medical crew in Cameroon examined Paul Pascal they recognised his condition was critical. They rushed him and his Mum on board before the hospital officially opened to monitor his temperature and feeding.

It was touch-and-go for a few days before the little boy began to turn the corner. Then once he was considered safe to leave the hospital, dieticians checked Paul Pascal regularly to track his growth, measure the size of his head, arms and legs, assess his feeding. They continued to encourage his Mum and suggest methods for her to help Paul Pascal have a healthy weight gain.

NUTRITION THEN FREE CLEFT LIP AND PALATE SURGERY SAVED HIS LIFE

Gradually Paul began to change. His gaunt face grew round cheeks. His hair grew thick and healthy, and his listless eyes were now content as he grew stronger.

Only 3 months later and weighing 6.4 kg, Paul Pascal was strong enough to undergo the first surgery to restore his cleft lip. His Mum worked hard to help Paul Pascal gain catch-up weight and reach the normal height to weight ratio.

In another five months, he was the size of an average 11-month-old and strong enough to have his cleft palate restored. The operation connected the muscles of his soft palate and closed the gap in the roof of his mouth, enabling him to eat and speak normally as he grows up.

Just a few weeks later in 2018, Paul Pascal’s post-op check saw him tip the scales at over 9 kg! No one would recognise the emaciated baby they had first seen. Paul Pascal’s journey to healing was complete and his future is changed forever.

               FELICIA HAD SUFFERED A LIFETIME OF REJECTION

She arrived at the Mercy Ship Anastasis with a definite air of expectation. For over 50 years Felisia had lived without a nose.

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND THANK YOU’s
Since 1978 Mercy Ships volunteers have joyfully provided 100,000 free surgeries; changing the future people like Felicia living in poverty in developing nations

When she was just a teenager, a painful wound appeared on Felisia’s arm. She credits this as the beginning of her suffering. After three months the wound almost covered her entire arm. Felisia’s parents took her from one traditional healer to the next, and in the following three years spent all their money in the futile quest for help. She says her anguish was perpetrated by the treatment by the Beninese village witchdoctors.

When the wound on her arm seemed to be healing, Felisia felt a similar malaise on her head. Within days her nose throbbed with pain. After four years of suffering, the pain disappeared – along with her nose!

VOLUNTEER CREW PROVIDE FREE ESSENTIAL SURGERY

Through a series of operations onboard the Mercy Ship in 2000, volunteer surgeons reconstructed Felisia’s face. A scalping flap was created from her forehead to build her a completely new nose.

After the many weeks of healing, Felisia was thrilled with her restored face. She laughed and danced through the ships’ wards, flirting with the doctors and asking the men to marry her. ‘I never dreamed of this but now I will look beautiful!’ she declared.

When she finally descended the gangway, Felisia held her head high, proudly stepped out and pointed her nose in the direction of home.

Houssainatou lives in a town in the highlands of Guinea with her parents and her four siblings. The ten-year-old would say her childhood has been a happy one: she talks about playing jump rope with her friends, helping to take care of her little brother, and climbing the trees that speckled their neighbourhood.

Houssainatou’s father, Souleymane, has worked hard to protect this childhood free from fear — but his reality has been very different. The facial tumour protruding from Houssainatou’s mouth filled every day with worry that he would have to watch his daughter struggle and die at an early age.

The first sign of her condition came when Houssainatou felt pain in her mouth when she was just a toddler. It eventually became a lump that steadily grew over time.

Her family decided two years ago to keep Houssainatou home from school because of her health. Instead, she would stay home with her mother to help cook and clean the house. They worked hard to ensure their daughter was happy, and didn’t feel defined by her condition, but Souleymane says it was very difficult for them.

‘We’re all worried. We worry all the time,’ he said. ‘We have no money. The village clinic can’t help her. We can’t afford the kind of surgery she needs. We kept praying, and worrying, and looking for help.’

The maize farmer felt he was failing Houssainatou because he was unable to generate the funds needed for her medical care. ‘I can only get enough food to feed my family, but not extra,’ he said. ‘I’d never have the means to take care of surgery for my daughter.’

One day, a relative living in the port city of Conakry told Souleymane about Mercy Ships. He brought his daughter to several rounds of patient selection screenings — and eventually, she was accepted for free surgery onboard the Africa Mercy.

When the time came for them to walk the gangway to the ship, Souleymane called himself the happiest man in the world. Houssainatou’s bravery had never shone brighter — as she explored the place that would be her home for the next two weeks, a volunteer crew member asked her how she felt about her upcoming surgery. ‘I’m not nervous… I’ll be asleep through it all anyway,’ she said.

And what a transformation while she ‘slept’! After just one day — and a four-hour surgery — Houssainatou was down in the wards of the Africa Mercy getting ready to see herself in the mirror, tumour-free, for the first time in her young life.

The sight made Souleymane exuberant with joy and gratitude. ‘I cannot believe it. She is so beautiful!’ he exclaimed. ‘I am so happy and so excited to bring her home to see the family.’

After several post-op follow up appointments, Houssainatou was healed — happier and healthier than she’d ever been. As father and daughter got ready to leave the ship and return home to their family, Souleymane reflected on what her surgery has meant to them: ‘My heart is free now. The fear is gone,” he said. ‘I used to spend every day afraid she would die young, but now I will spend my time helping her have a future. I want her to become a doctor so she can help people the way she herself has been helped.’

Written by Rose Talbot