December Nattier News

As another new year approaches, we wanted to take a few moments to reflect back and share with all of you, a bit more of our life/work here in Togo and a story of how we have seen God at work this past year. We hope that all of you had a very merry Christmas and were able to spend time with family and friends celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We miss you, think of you all often, and as always, we are very thankful for your continued support.  We have been staying quite busy with our work here in Togo, but we have still found time to enjoy a few festivities with our friends.  We were even able to run a Turkey Trot here in Mango!  Everyone in the family was able to finish, and it was a lot of fun.  Some of our Togolese friends joined us for the run as well.

The first part of December, we had the privilege of hosting all of our coworkers from the Operating Room and their families for a holiday party.  A good time was had by all.  It was great to play games with them and their families.  The kids had fun swinging and jumping on our trampoline, which are pretty uncommon activities for most of the kids here.  The guys played an intense game of can-jam and the women were able to enjoy good conversation in between keeping a close eye on all the adorable littles  We were so busy enjoying the evening that we didn't think to snap any photos until the end of the night with a few of the babies.  This first little guy with Natasha is just 3 weeks younger than Mély.  There are lots of babies within our team~ here was Bryce's little buddy.

It has been hard to describe some of the things we face here on a daily basis.  Many of these things are good, others are challenges that can be frustrating but become just part of life here.  For example, car problems are normal anywhere, but here we add not having access to needed parts or mechanics who have the necessary tools and training to repair the problem well.  There is also a great difference here in the suffering that we see.  Often times, this is linked to medical problems that have not been treated in a timely matter due to lack of money or access to medical care.  Some of these can have good outcomes in the end, while others do not.  Yet amidst all the frustration and suffering, we sometimes get a glimpse of how God is at work.
Here is a situation we recently experienced~   During our last trip to Lomé, to get our van repaired (for the umpteenth time), we experienced a number of challenges.  One included the car dying at 5 AM in the morning, just after having received it back from the mechanic.  It refused to start again, which was even more problematic because we had already loaded the car with all of our supplies and people to head back to Mango.  I called the mechanic, who drove over right away, though it took a little over an hour.  When he arrived, he needed to call an electrician to get the car started.  While we waited, we started making small talk.  I talked a little about the work in Mango, and he started to tell me about his older brother who had broken his leg about 6 months ago.

He had broken his leg in a moto accident, and initially had gone to a hospital in Lomé.  While there, he was probably told he needed a surgery, but that he would need to pay the money in full before the surgery would be done.  The cost of the surgery was around 3-4, million CFA (roughly 6-8 thousand dollars).  This is obviously a lot of money, even to many in America.  He decided to see a traditional healer instead since the cost was much less.  His leg was placed in a splint with wood and a bandage and the leg was massaged often.  His fracture didn't heal, so 6 months later he still couldn't walk, and he still didn't have enough money to get the surgery in Lomé.

I proceeded to explain that we perform this surgery at the Hospital of Hope and our cost is about 1/10th the price.  My mechanic talked to his brother, and they made the 8 hour trip from Lomé to Mango for a consultation.  His brother was brought in on a stretcher.  He really couldn't move around on his own.  He wasn't even walking with crutches like many of our patients with similar fractures when they arrived.  They came ready to have surgery, so we scheduled it for the following week.   We performed the surgery, removing the unhealed edges of the fracture and placed a Sign nail inside his femur to stabilize the fracture until it healed.  You can see this well with our digital X-rays, which are a huge help and much better quality than at the other hospitals in our area.

He returned for his visit two weeks later, and he was already able to walk a little without crutches.  In the mean time, his brother the mechanic returned to Lomé with my car and made further repairs.  He returned to pickup his brother after his appointment.  We were able to share a meal together at our home and hear a little more about their experience while he was here in Mango getting to know other patients from all over Togo and Burkina Faso.

This highlights just one of the many stories we are able to experience here in Mango.  In fact this is 1 of nearly 100 cases of fractures that have been fixed this year with the Sign nail system at HOH.  Many of these patients come in unable to walk, or would not have been able to walk for months or years.  Roughly 1/2 of these are new fractures and others are weeks or months old.   Most of them hear about our hospital from former patients or their family and friends.  It is a blessing to be able to provide care to patients who otherwise could not afford it. Many times this is life changing on many levels. 

Many of you are part of these stories as well through your giving, and we would like to again say thank you!

We would also like to let you know about an opportunity to further support the work and the patients here in Mango.  We are currently trying to raise funds for more housing for our patients while they are staying here (ie: to receive treatments, ongoing wound care, and/or for those awaiting for or recovering from surgery).  There currently is not enough space for all of the patients who come.  Many of them end up sleeping outdoors.  We also are also hoping to make some needed improvements to the floors in the operating room to improve sterility and reduce infections for our patients. Here is a link if you are interested in giving in this way. https://hospitalofhope.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/d/DEA52BED5A4348C72540EF23F30FEDED/649C44CD1643B15105263A35EB2CBB57

Praises and Prayer Requests

Family

We recently picked up Natasha's parents who are with us for 5 weeks to include Christmas.  We are excited to spend some time with them and show them all that is God is doing here in Mango.

Medical work

We are very thankful for your prayers for surgical coverage.  There are several surgeons who will be coming to help Bryce over the next few months.  John Briggs, our other surgical provider recently left,  and we have already had the first surgeon arrive to help.