I have just recently returned from a medical mission trip in the Dominican Republic. This is Cathy's story.
Cathy was assaulted several years ago and left with a very severely broken leg. She was treated at the time, but developed a serious infection. Somewhere along the line, they put plates and screws along the bone to fix it. This worked well, but she was still having problems with infection. The plates and screws were eventually removed due to infection, and she can walk, although she is somewhat stiff legged. Post-operative physical therapy is not exactly available there.
The local hospital charged Cathy lots of money for her surgeries. Her family had to mortgage their house to pay. They eventually lost their house, and the family now lives nearby with relatives.
MMI (Medical Ministries International) became aware of Cathy thru one of the volunteers last year. MMI goes all over the world to give free medical care. Cathy was treated last year on an MMI trip by Dr. Sutton (above photo). She still had infection then. He returned this year and took me with him. Cathy is still plagued with infection. We operated on her again at the beginning of the week, and sent her home with IV antibiotics. Every morning before work, and every evening when we returned, we walked down the hill to go to Cathy's house and treat her with more antibiotics. What a joy and a priviledge for us. The family treated us so well. We were welcomed into their humble abode and offered food and drink. They were very happy to have us there, and on our final night at camp when people share their stories, Cathy's mother came up the hill to thank MMI and Dr. Sutton for all their help. She talked about the blessing her family received from us. I'm not so sure who received the most blessing...Cathy and her family, or all of us working with MMI. My thanks to MMI for the opportunity to serve.