Facing disease in third-world is much different than how we face disease in the states. As the men gathered today and prepared for work, we were hit with the news of one of the workers who was found to be sick when he returned home on Monday afternoon. (Name withheld)'s three-year-old daughter was incoherent. He was the first to arrive but with pain in his voice announced that his daughter was "bad." Our host quickly got on his motorcycle with this worker and headed to his house.
After arriving at his home, his daughter was unable to open her eyes and unable to respond. She was quickly on the motorcycle for the trip to the hospital. The short trip to the hospital was met with the bad news that his daughter had a very serious form of malaria (cerebral malaria) which affects the brain. The prognosis is given with only one treatment at all that might offer the slimmest of hope. A blood transfusion would be required but beyond this lone treatment, there was only a very slim hope that his young daughter would survive.
Before lunch, he had returned from the hospital in obvious need. the hospital would attempt to use the blood of the young father for the transfusion. the hospital removed the necessary amount of blood but without payment refused to put the blood into his daughter. The father quickly mounted his bicycle back to our host home to ask for the necessary funds to complete the transfusion. This is a stark reminder of the need to remember our own malaria medicine each day.
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