Through the eyes of a child

One Friday afternoon, an elderly woman showed up at the Mercy Ship in Benin with her newborn grandson in her arms. The baby was a mere three hours old and did not yet have a name, but his need for immediate medical attention was obvious. Conjunctivitis that began in the womb had caused the lining of the baby's eyelids to swell. Two globular red sacs protruded from his eyes, blocking his vision and flipping his eyelids inside-out. This condition left his tiny eyes unprotected and exposed. Left untended, they would be damaged beyond repair. His mother, Janette, didn't know what was wrong with her baby and was horrified by his appearance.

"When I saw him, I was suffering," Janette said. "I thought my baby did not have eyelids." At the maternity clinic in Porto-Novo, they told Janette the baby needed to go to Cotonou, Benin's capital, where more advanced medical care is available. So, the baby's grandmother bundled up the yet-unnamed child and climbed onto the back of a motorcycle taxi, the primary mode of transportation in Benin. "When the motorcycle taxi driver saw the baby's eyes, he was afraid," Janette said. Still, he agreed to carry them to Cotonou. The doctors at the hospital in Cotonou told the grandmother to take the baby to the Mercy Ship. Fortunately, it was a Friday – the only day of the week the ship's operating rooms for eye surgeries are not booked full with cataract patients – so the baby was able to be seen immediately. Dr. Jim performed a simple operation to drain the infection and turned the eyelids in the correct direction.

The baby was given antibiotics and was kept overnight. The next day, Janette was able to leave the hospital and travel to Cotonou herself to see her baby. They were released to go home soon after. Even in such a short time, the visual transformation was dramatic. The baby, now named Desiré, returned for a post-operative appointment a week later. On the way back to the ship, Janette happened upon the same motorcycle taxi driver who had brought Desiré and his grandmother to the ship the first time. He could not believe the difference and told Janette how happy it made him to see the baby was healed. Janette certainly agreed with him. "The goodness that Mercy Ships has done makes me so happy," Janette said. "If Mercy Ships was not around, where would I have gone?"

From the blog of Stacy Adams.