Some photos..

Just some of the patients who have been on the wards....

The beautiful Tani, a patient from 2010 who sustained burns to the right side of her face. She received an operation in 2010 for a skin flap and graft and reconstruction of her nose and has come back to receive further reconstruction and a possible right eye prosthesis. This is a picture from 2010 and she has grown so much! She is so full of energy, we played countless rounds of jenga at the weekend! She has travelled from Dahpong in the North of Togo with a man from her church, who thought nothing of coming with her to be her caregiver while she has the surgery and recovers.

 One of our 120 goitre patients; at the screening day there were more hernia and goitre patients than all others. We ran 4 thyroid clinics within the first few weeks in the horrible task of trying to prioritise as we only have 60 slots. Some of the thyroidectomies have already begun and the patients are recovering well.

Little daniel who was one of our first patients to be operated on; what a smile he had!

 Komi; a 6 month old who has a large encephalocele (an outpouching of his brain past the skull boundaries). Although 6 months in chronological age, he behaves like a newborn still retaining the primitive reflexes found at birth. He also suffers with seizures, which occur every few mintures. Unfortunately the CT scan we performed showed that he has little actual brain tissue and very large dilated ventricles (which carry the fluid which bathes the spinal cord and brain). We are liasing with him and his family regarding a possibility of some surgery if his condition stabilises. Please pray for them.

 Chantal, a 25 year old from Ghana originally, who sustained burns to her right arm as a child. She underwent a contracture release and skin graft in 2010 when Mercy Ships was here in Togo and this healed up well initially. However this broke down a year later and she has spent a year and a half with the arm like this, covering it with a blanket and being ostracised because of it. We have had her on the wards for a few weeks and taken her to theatre to clean the site prior to hopefully doing a skin graft. She is such a brave lady and hadn't been on any pain relief before we saw her at screening. Please pray for her as she is going through such a lot right now and faces many more hurdles in the future.

 Radiatou, a young woman who has been suffering with fibrous dysplasia underwent her operation last week and has since been discharged before returning for further alterations. The marketing team picked her up at home and brought her to the ship; she was very excited as it was the first time she saw the sea! They also went back to her village with her when she was discharged and her headteacher said she was excited to have her back in school when she is well enough!