Recently I had another opportunity to spend a few days on our medical boat in the Amazon jungle. This particular voyage took us far from the city of Iquitos fairly close to the border between Peru and Brazil. If you want to try to find it on a map, look for the city of Pevas (sometimes spelled Pebas) in Peru. It is amazing to see how God can use the boat and the team on the boat to minister to the people in the jungle in very tangible ways.
One case in particular stands out in my mind, and I want to share Jacob's story with you. It was my last evening on the boat for this particular trip, and we had changed plans at the last minute. We were supposed to be heading to a town close to the Ampiyacu River, but instead Dr. Ronald (the doctor in charge of this voyage) decided to head a couple of hours farther down the Amazon to the town of Cochiquinas. Just as we were tying the boat up in the town's small port and finishing dinner, a man from the town approached our boat looking for help.
"I know that you are not planning on attending patients until tomorrow morning, but please, this is an emergency." he said.
Indeed it was. The man was carrying a young boy in his arms. He explained to us that the morning before he had been bitten by a snake in the ankle, and he was growing weaker and weaker. As we brought the boy down into the medical room, we noticed that he was bleeding from a number of different places on his body. I know nothing about snake bites or tropical medicine, but the doctors explained to me that it is common for snake venom to act as an anticoagulant, meaning that wherever this boy has a cut or a scrape, the blood wouldn't clot like normal--it just continued to bleed.
Immediately, the doctors and nurses went to work. I did my best to stay out of their way and just be available to translate as needed. Thankfully our boat travels with a general snake anti-venom in stock. I was under the impression that once we gave him the anti-venom medicine, then he would begin to heal, but the doctors informed me that his case was much more serious.
"Theoretically speaking this anti-venom will do no good if the bite occurred more than 24 hours ago," Dr. Ronald said, "and this boy was bitten more than 36 hours ago. The only other treatment for snake venom only treats the symptoms--not the problem."
"So what are we going to do?" I asked, worried that the boy might not make it.
Dr. Ronald replied, "There are only two things that we can do: give him the anti-venom anyway and pray that God will take care of this boy."
We did just that. We administered the strong medicine to this boy through his IV line. At first he reacted quite strongly. He began vomiting, and he became quite sick. As I stood in the room and witnessed this, I began to think that I was going to witness this boy's death that very night. The doctors and nurses seemed quite worried, and I was so impressed with the way they cared for the boy over the next couple of hours.
While they were in the room taking care of the boy's immediate needs, my mind turned to his family. The man who brought this boy to the boat was just a neighbor. I asked the man where Jacob's parents were. He explained that they are separated, and neither one lives close by. The father never comes to visit, and the mother has a new family now, but she comes to see her children about once a month. The neighbor told me that this boy is now living with his grandparents, but they leave for four or five days at a time to go out to work in the coca fields. The grandparents were home when Jacob was bitten, but they just left him in the house and left for work as if it were any other day.
I continued making small talk with Jacob's neighbor until the doctors came out to say that his stomach had calmed down, his bleeding had stopped, and miraculously, he seemed to be stabilizing. What a praise! He was just going to need some rest, and he was going to continue to receive antibiotics to fight off any type of infection that might follow. As things began to quiet down for the night, I volunteered to sit in with him until he fell asleep. We talked for awhile. I asked him a little bit more about it life and his family. I found out that he was the oldest of three. He explained to me that they are on their own most of the time, but grandma and grandpa come by the house every once in awhile. As we continued to talk, I learned that he did not know his age or his birthday. I would guess that he is about nine years old. Jacob didn't even know what his last name was.
We continued to talk. "So you are the oldest? I guess that means that you get to take care of your younger siblings."
"Yeah, but that doesn't scare me. When am I going to be able to go home? I'm getting bored here, and I want to see my brother and sister." He responded.
I was amazed at the way this boy talked. He was taken from his home by a neighbor to a strange medical boat full of strange doctors and nurses. He was bitten by a snake, incredibly weak, and on top of that we gave him medicine that made him feel even sicker. Not once did he shed a tear, and as soon as he began to stabilize he was worrying about his siblings. I sat with him awhile longer, and he drifted to sleep.
I slept very little that night. I could not stop thinking about Jacob on the deck below. I spent time praying for him and his family. Praying that God would bring healing to his body and redemption to his family. Praying that through all of these difficult situations that God would make himself known.
Morning came, and I went straight back downstairs to see how Jacob was doing. He had slept most of the night and was just receiving his second round of antibiotics. He was doing better, but he was going to need antibiotics for a number of days. We needed to get him to the hospital. Jacob's neighbor kindly volunteered to go and look for his grandparents, but when he found them in the fields they communicated that they were not going to be able to leave their work, and the would not take Jacob to the hospital. I couldn't believe that they just ignored the problem, knowing full well that if he didn't get to a hospital he could still die. With no legal guardian to take him, we did the only thing that we could do--keep him on the boat.
This was my last morning on the boat. I had to accompany my group back to Iquitos so that they could catch their flights back to the UK. We left Jacob under the care of our very highly qualified Peruvian staff of doctors and nurses.
So many thoughts were racing through my mind as I made the six hour speed boat trip back to Iquitos. I spent time wrestling with this situation, questioning God, and wondering why all this had happened. Even if Jacob does get better, what kind of home is he going back into? As I spent time in prayer, my mind wandered to Joseph in the Bible. I was reminded of how so many difficult things happened in his life. He was sold into slavery, thrown into jail, and forgotten about for years. In the end, he becomes second in command only to Pharaoh himself, and he saves countless numbers of people from starving to death during a great famine. What others meant for evil, God used for good!
I am encouraged as I am reminded that God also has a plan for our Jacob. I am not sure what it is, but I trust that God knows what he is doing. I am reminded that we weren't even planning on going to Jacob's village that evening. I am reminded that our doctors were able to stabilize Jacob even though we were more than 12 hours past the deadline to administer the anti-venom. I don't know exactly where Jacob will end up. We are doing all that we can to find a safe place for him and his siblings. First we have to try to locate family, and if that doesn't work out then he may be a candidate for our boys' home near Iquitos. Either way, join me in praising God for his perfect plan and in praying that God would continue to lay his healing and protecting hand over this boy's life.
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