‘If I get malaria, I get malaria. God will protect me.’ I actually said that to people before I left for the World Race. If I had only known…
When I thought about getting malaria on the Race, I envisioned a few days of sickness, taking some pills, and then moving on with my life. I never thought about IVs, blood transfusions, weeks in the hospital, and even being sent back to America.
Having malaria was one of the worst experiences of my life, but also one of the best. I’ve never seen God’s protection and provision more clearly in any situation in my life. Now that I’m sitting at home in America and on my way to getting healthy, I feel free to share more of the details of what actually happened in the past few weeks.
My malaria was a special case- severely complicated cerebral malaria. It started out with normal malaria symptoms; body aches and tiredness, headache, nausea, dizziness, and very high fevers. My teammate Morgan had similar symptoms and so we took a trip to the health clinic in the small Ethiopian village of Harbu Chulule. The blood tests for malaria came back negative and so we returned to our ministry site to tough out the symptoms.
Thankfully, a team of doctors and nurses from Canada happened to arrive at our ministry site, HOPEthiopia, that day. They came to put on a free health clinic in the village. Morgan and I were well taken care of and given free medicine for a few days, but our symptoms continued to get worse. During those few days, my team was absolutely incredible. I could not have asked for a better group of women to care for me when I was at my lowest point. I may have lost a lot of dignity, but I gained a family. You all showed me love in ways that I never could’ve imagined. Thank you.
By the time we finally got new blood tests and confirmation that we did in fact have malaria, things were not looking good. We were transported to a hospital a few hours away called St. Luke’s, where a team of Italian doctors cared for us. (You never know when Italian language skills are going to come in handy 🙂 ). They had us hooked up to IVs and taking malaria meds, but realized that they were not equipped to provide the care we needed. So a few days later we were transferred to the Korean Christian Medical Center in Addis Ababa.
When we arrived at the Korean Hospital, they immediately began treating us with a very strong anti-malarial called quinine. We also received blood transfusions and extra platelets. So I really can say that I have African blood now; I got a blood transfusion in Ethiopia! They monitored our liver and kidney functions and gave us antibiotics to combat some of the side effects of the quinine. I was also placed on oxygen to treat the pneumonia that I had developed as a complication from the malaria.
Spending five days in the Korean Hospital was not fun, even though it was one of the nicest places in which we could’ve been taken care of. Hospitals are one of my biggest fears and I’d never even been in the hospital in America before. Now I can say that I’ve ridden in an ambulance, had an IV, gotten a blood transfusion, been on oxygen, had my blood drawn countless times, and puked up hospital food- all in a foreign country!
There were so many points in the process where things could’ve gone wrong and yet God had his hand on me and Morgan the entire time. We met some of the sweetest people ever in the hospital who brought us homemade cookies and prayed over us. Our squad leader Megan was an absolute angel, taking care of all the details, communicating with AIM and our parents, and staying in the hospital with us the entire time. Countless people from my squad prayed and came and stayed in the hospital with us. I found out that thousands of people back home, people I didn’t even know, were praying for me. And finally, on the day before Thanksgiving, we were liberated (released from the hospital)!
When Megan told us that we were being sent home to recover, I was a crazy mix of emotions. Adventures in Missions and the doctors made the decision that our full recovery should be made back home in America. India was the country that I was looking forward to most on the Race and a big part of why I chose my specific route. Missing India is a huge disappointment and yet I trust that God has me in America this month for a reason.
I never imagined that one of my biggest challenges on the Race would be a physical one. I trusted God to protect me on this Race and that means every part of my life- even my physical health. I expected spiritual, emotional, and mental challenges but never imagined that something like malaria could wear down my body enough to prevent me from continuing this adventure.
And yet God clearly had His hand on my physical body in these past few weeks. There is no way that I would have survived or even be doing so well today without His protection. I’m not sure why God sent me home for my month 4 or even why he allowed me to get malaria, but I do know that the African blood running through my veins will be a constant reminder that God is my protector and my healer. And I trust Him to completely heal me and sustain me for the time when I’ll return to serving Him around the world on the rest of my World Race.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
