Please Pray for these patients
February 8, 2022
Hi from the Whites at the Tenwek Cardiothoracic Surgery Department!
We’ve highlighted patients and asked for prayer in various ways over the years. Some have asked for more regular updates and more details. In an effort to be more prayerful, to enlist more prayer for our patients, and to raise awareness of their needs, we are going to try to regularly highlight some of the people who come in needing or scheduled for surgery.
Hi from the Whites at the Tenwek Cardiothoracic Surgery Department!
We’ve highlighted patients and asked for prayer in various ways over the years. Some have asked for more regular updates and more details. In an effort to be more prayerful, to enlist more prayer for our patients, and to raise awareness of their needs, we are going to try to regularly highlight some of the people who come in needing or scheduled for surgery.
Even though I am married to a surgeon and live about 150 steps from the hospital, I do not generally visit the hospital wards and am not particularly comfortable in the hospital setting! But after church on Sunday, I went up with Russ and a few others to meet four patients scheduled for heart surgery this week. Only three of them will likely be done this week, but four are scheduled in case one becomes not well enough or in case there is unforeseen extra time to do a fourth if something else shifts in the schedule. Three of them will have valves replaced due to damage from developing Rheumatic Heart Disease after having had untreated childhood Strep infection.
Collins
Collins, pictured here with his sister, is a 17-year-old who came to have two valves replaced. He noticed that he was getting weak and tired easily in 2017, and he hasn’t been able to run or even walk very far. He was shy and said he didn’t know Jesus. What an opportunity to share with him! We talked a little, and then today before his surgery, Daniel, a well-experienced scrub-tech and pastor, shared with him in his own language, Kipsigis, and he invited Christ into his heart before he went in to surgery on his heart, which went well!
Collins, pictured here with his sister, is a 17-year-old who came to have two valves replaced. He noticed that he was getting weak and tired easily in 2017, and he hasn’t been able to run or even walk very far. He was shy and said he didn’t know Jesus. What an opportunity to share with him! We talked a little, and then today before his surgery, Daniel, a well-experienced scrub-tech and pastor, shared with him in his own language, Kipsigis, and he invited Christ into his heart before he went in to surgery on his heart, which went well!
Kiptoo
Kiptoo, an 18 year old in the purple "warm puppy" sweatshirt, was sound asleep next to his brother when we arrived. They live not too far from here, and it was just three months ago that he first came to Tenwek to find out why he was struggling to walk and run up and down this hilly area.
Evaline
Evaline (on the right), a 34 year old mother of five kids ranging from grades 2-12, came with her mother, who helped raise funds for her to have surgery. She has been weak since around the time of the birth of her last child but didn’t seek help until two years ago. She beamed as she talked about Jesus being her Comforter and Friend, and she is confident that he will carry her through this hard time just as he has been present for her throughout her life.
Evaline (on the right), a 34 year old mother of five kids ranging from grades 2-12, came with her mother, who helped raise funds for her to have surgery. She has been weak since around the time of the birth of her last child but didn’t seek help until two years ago. She beamed as she talked about Jesus being her Comforter and Friend, and she is confident that he will carry her through this hard time just as he has been present for her throughout her life.
Baraka ("Blessing")
The fourth, little 2-year-old Baraka from the other side of Nairobi, has a hole in his heart. The doctors at the hospital in Nairobi tried to convince his mother to take him to India for surgery, but a friend told her about how her child had been cared for at Tenwek.
The fourth, little 2-year-old Baraka from the other side of Nairobi, has a hole in his heart. The doctors at the hospital in Nairobi tried to convince his mother to take him to India for surgery, but a friend told her about how her child had been cared for at Tenwek.
Will you pray with us over the next week or so for each of these as they come to mind or as you meet together to pray with others? We will be away at a conference by the end of this week, but we will report once we are back! Please pray for as we travel, too!
Russ & Beth
Russ & Beth