Jean Bosco is a
farmer. Just north of Congo’s capital city of Brazzaville, fields bear the mark
of his honest labor – hectares of cassava, gardens of blooming eggplant and
tomato, and lime and mango trees providing welcoming shade from the African
sun.
Jean and his
wife, Carine, worked hard to enjoy life with their six children. They enjoyed
simple prosperity and stability . . . until a mysterious growth appeared on
Jean’s back in 2003. What Jean calls his maladie was, in fact, a lipoma
– a benign, soft-tissue tumor composed of body fat. Left untreated, a lipoma
can reach giant proportions.
Jean
explains: “When my malady started, it was barely
noticeable. But after three years, it began to rise from my shoulders. I became
afraid; if I were to die, my family would suffer greatly,” Jean said.
Driven by concern
for the well-being of his wife and children, Jean saved enough money for a
hospital visit in 2009. But the appointments, bloodwork, and medicine quickly
emptied his pockets, and he had to return home without surgery.
Nevertheless,
Jean refused to give up. Day after day, he worked to save more money,
desperately hoping for healing. Exhausted by the shifting, heavy growth, his
work suffered and his fields’ productivity decreased. His family now found
itself in dire straits. “At that time,” Jean says, “I abandoned myself to
prayer that God would help me.”
Help arrived in
God’s creative, unusual way. In 2013, Jean’s lipoma ruptured and began to
bleed. He had no choice but to seek emergency medical care in Brazzaville. He
found himself once again on the doorstep of surgery but without the means to
pay for it. While in the city, he learned of a hospital ship docked in the
Congo. “Go to Mercy Ships,” a friend told him. “The surgeons will help you for
free.” Jean was amazed, and he wasted no time in traveling to the
coastal city of Pointe Noire.
By the time Jean
boarded the Africa Mercy, the watermelon-shaped lipoma protruding from
his back weighed 20 pounds!
Even in extreme cases, a lipoma usually reaches only 8 to 11 pounds. Under the
expert hands of South African volunteer Dr. Tertius Venter, the massive lipoma
was removed in a two-hour surgery.
A few days later,
resting comfortably on his back in his hospital bed, Jean grinned and said, “My
doctor thinks I’m a machine! I am too happy to feel pain. It has been ten
years since I could rest on my back.”
Jean is overjoyed
with the gift of health he has received from Mercy Ships. “What could I give
Mercy Ships in return?” he asks. “What am I to say to God for what He has done
for me? This ship goes beyond. This ship is in God’s truth. All I can give is ‘thank
you.’”
Now, Jean Bosco –
a farmer, a father, and a husband – can return to his family . . . without his
terrible burden. His easy smile lights up as he envisions his homecoming.
“Imagine your favorite fútbol team has just won the World Cup,” he says,
“…that is exactly how my family is celebrating as we speak. There is a very
perfect joy that is waiting for me and mine when I get home.”
Jean’s
smile and easygoing nature reflect a satisfaction with his life’s work and his
faith. Now, with the free gift of surgery, he will be better able to care for his
farm and his family.
The day of Jean’s surgery has arrived. “Since 2003, while I
had this tumor, I could not lie down or sleep on my back, ever.” He is eager for that to change.
The watermelon-shaped lipoma growing from Jean’s back
weighed an amazing 20 pounds! The majority of extreme lipoma cases typically
reach 8 to 11 pounds.
“Because it was so big, it always bothered me. I could not
work hard, as it would exhaust me too quickly. I have always been good at
keeping the welfare of my family in equilibrium, but my malady made our lives
very difficult,” Jean says.
Jean’s surgery and healing has been miraculously swift,
and Jean is eager to get home: “My
family is so excited to see me now […]. There is a very perfect joy that is
waiting for me and mine at home,” Jean says in an interview on his last day in
the hospital.
Would you look at those shoulder blades! Jean descends the
gangway of the Africa Mercy with a
grateful and triumphant spirit. “When I look at Mercy Ships, I feel the
presence of God,” Jean says. “Those who can support Mercy Ships do not have to
hesitate. This place is so wonderful, so in truth. Thank you, Mercy Ships.”
Clem, the Communications Team Translator, spends some time
with Jean before he leaves. The two Congolese formed a great friendship while
Jean was onboard the Africa Mercy.
“When I arrived in Pointe Noire a few weeks ago, I crossed
paths with a policeman on the street. He took one look at my back and asked me
where I was headed. I told him, ’to the Mercy Ships.’ He smiled and told me,
‘You are in good hands there, my friend.’”
Today, as a healed Jean leaves the hospital, it is plain to see that the
policeman was right.
Written by Grace
Antonini
Edited by Nancy
Predaina
Photos by Ruben
Plomp and Michelle Murrey
