James the Miracle Boy

We met James at the Clinic at Losalava on Gaua .He had been a patient there for three weeks.His story started before that though.About one month before we arrived at Gaua he had been accidentally cut with a bush knife on his leg at the front down by his ankle.I am not sure what first aid was applied at the time but it is possible that if anything it was custom medicine.After a week the cut was much worse and badly infected so they made a pole and hessian stretcher and four strong men carried him quite a long way to the clinic.

The clinic on Gaua has only one nurse even though the population is now about six times what it was since the evacuation of the West side of the island to the East side.The government has waived clinic fees to help the refugees. But the clinic fees were used to support the clinic and the government hasn't provided additional funds or staff. I'm not sure what has happened to all the other nurses or health workers when they were moved but I think most of them went back to their home islands to wait until they are given the all clear to come back, but whatever, they haven't come to help at the clinic.Also being that there is only a nurse and not a nurse practitioner (like a doctor) there is only a limited supply of medicines available.Normally this is not a problem because Dr. Mark, the volunteer flying doctor, is based here but at this time he was back in Australia on a well deserved holiday.

When James arrived at the clinic the Nurse cleaned the wound as best she could and bandaged it and administered Penicillin to kill the infection and Panadol for the pain.James was made to take it easy, not too hard because he was quite ill and his leg very sore.As the weeks passed the leg didn't get any better in spite of the treatment.We arrived on the Saturday morning and ran a clinic in the afternoon on the verandah of the clinic building because the room was being used by James. I felt sorry for him because all afternoon there were screaming babies just outside his door and there was no way he would get much rest until we went home. Piccaninnies hate being 'skaled' (weighed) and like 'stiks' (needles) even less!

We were packing up and Annette, the Australian nurse that was on our team, went to do a final check on James before leaving for the night. She found the local Nurse Nancy holding James' leg and applying pressure to try and stop it bleeding.It had apparently just started to bleed and was seeping through the bandage.Nancy was very tired so Annette took over and called for Jan to take James' blood pressure.When she did they found it was quite low so they called all our other nurses to come and help.They took off the sopping bandages and were confronted with spurting blood - arterial bleeding! The infection had softened the artery to the extent that it had burst and James was bleeding to death!

There was a hurried discussion about the best possible course of action to take and during the next hour the team worked as one to save the young boy's life.There was one nurse holding one end of the artery and another holding the other end and another one trying to stitch the two together. Another was fanning the team with a blanket to try and keep them cool while Sarah and another nurse were cutting gauze for swabs. They managed to stitch it but the flesh was too rotten to hold the sutures so they had to try again. Meanwhile James was continuing to lose blood and his blood pressure was falling dangerously low.

Outside Tony was walking up and down and round and round the building praying, I was on the verandah praying, Jan was inside holding James' hand and praying, Brian was on the boat praying, James' grandmother was sitting on the verandah sobbing quietly and the team continued to work.They again sutured the artery and again it broke away and James was lapsing in and out of consciousness. Then they tried a third time and this time, Praise God, it held.By now James had lost about two litres of blood and his BP was down to about 70/30 but the bleeding had stopped.They hooked him up to a saline drip and some IV antibiotics that we had brought in our supplies.They cleaned the wound as best they could without disturbing the new sutures and applied a new pressure pad and bandages.They also plastered the back of his leg to prevent any movement and the nurses took turns to sit and watch him throughout the night.

What an amazing team of people - old and young, men and women, Ni Van and Australian, nurses and yachties. Everyone found a job and did their best until the crisis had been overcome. We experience some very scary times but meet some very special people.

James had come so close to death but by the Grace of God and the work of the team he pulled through.The immediate danger had passed but he was still in a critical condition.It was decided that he would have to be flown to Santo Hospital so that his leg could be fixed properly and he would be able to get a blood transfusion etc.Arrangements were made and he was flown out on the first flight which was on Monday. But even then there were problems. The truck (government owned) failed to turn up - had other priorities (that paid more no doubt) and so several men had to be recruited to carry him to the airport on a stretcher.

We left a pair of crutches that had been donated by the Tin Can Bay Coast Guard at the clinic for him when he returns. The Coast Guard doesn't know yet just how important their donation has proved to be.

When we arrived back in Santo three weeks later we visited him in the hospital and what a difference.He was wearing his Prayer Warrior T Shirt that Jan had given him.He looked much better and his leg was coming along fine but he told us that arrangements were being made to fly him to Port Vila where he required more surgery by an Australian doctor to restitch the ligaments to his big toe so it will work properly.Last I heard was that he was in Port Vila so when I get there again I will see if he is still there.

I believe that James is a walking miracle and have no doubt that if we hadn't been there when he needed us he would have certainly died.

I often wonder what sort of future God has in store for him.