From Near and Far

 

Nineteen neurosurgical procedures.  Nearly five months of total time spent admitted to Kijabe Hospital.  That's what then four-year-old Bravin endured over a twelve month period spanning 2023-2024.  He had come to Kijabe after initially undergoing insertion of a shunt elsewhere for the treatment of hydrocephalus (too much water in the brain).  The shunt was no longer functioning, but figuring out how to get another one working proved to be a very difficult task (clearly!).  Shunts can be quite finicky...they get infected, they malfunction...and the anatomy of Bravin's brain was not typical.   Two of Bravin's many CT scans Day after day of visiting Bravin and his parents at the bedside became quite discouraging, as most days I honestly wasn't quite sure what to try next.  Before every surgery I pray that God would grant me wisdom and favor, and certainly that was my prayer throughout Bravin's stay.  I'm thankful for the wisdom God's granted me as a result of my training and years of experience, but the reality is that I'm never the one in control of my patients' outcomes. Thank God that the 19th procedure for Bravin was the last one.  He's now got two working shunts that connect together to drain into his heart. I recently saw Bravin back in clinic for his 18 month follow up It's not just patients in Kenya that are coming to Kijabe seeking neurosurgery.  Click the image below to see a short two-minute video highlighting two patients that recently came all the way across the continent for spine surgery with one of the other neurosurgeons here, Hugh Sims-Williams (his wife Helen is the one in the video).  And there's a patient from Sierra Leone coming next month for brain surgery with me.   In January the PAACS Neurosurgery residency program officially began at Kijabe Hospital.  Thank you to the many of you who were in prayer with us during the transition period.  Please do continue praying for the neurosurgery department at Tenwek.  While they are no longer training neurosurgery residents, full-time neurosurgical clinical services are still being offered, currently anchored by Dr. Josephat Mburu, one of our PAACS Neurosurgery graduates. We had a BBQ with the residents to kick off the new year Like our patients who come from near and far, so too do our residents.  One of the many things that excites us about our training program is that we aren't just training residents to impact Kenya, but in fact many countries in Africa.  Our current cohort of six residents are coming from five countries...Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda.  Please pray for our interviews coming up on June 12th for our 2027 resident intake.  This year we had 99 applicants (more than twice the number we've ever had!) from 13 countries.  And yet we can only take one resident. Our newest resident, Dr. Shankulu, from the DRC Below is a brand new video highlighting PAACS and the wonderful work happening through it.  As we've shared with you before, the cost to train our residents is $25,000 per resident per year.  Would you consider playing a financial role in this training and make a donation today?  To do so, visit this link which will ensure your support goes to the neurosurgery program.

Our family is doing well.  Liam is now settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas where he will begin studying (yes Liam you have to study!) and playing rugby at Arkansas State University in the fall.  Below is a photo of him after he recently got his license and registration...with his family celebrating with him across the ocean via FaceTime.  We are ever grateful for the support we receive from so many of you.  God's blessings to you.