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John in Ghana Is Refused Surgery [1]
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Date: 2023-06-15
I apologize for the lateness of this report on my friend John in Ghana but this has been developing all day. I wanted to keep everyone up to date on what is happening.
I have been writing stories about John for some time now. John is a minister in the Buduburam Refugee Camp area of Ghana who strives to help those who come to him in desperate need for housing, medical care, and food.
John’s own health is bad. For some time he has been passing large quantities of blood. He had surgery for this last winter and we thought the problem was taken care of, both from the surgery and medication he has been taking, but recently the bleeding came back with a vengeance.
John’s doctor told him that he needed another operation. With great difficulty we finally managed to raise the money they demanded (in Ghana doctors will not even look at you unless you pay first) and John was scheduled to have surgery at 9 am local time on the morning of the 15th.
I worried all night, of course, and checked the phone for messages several times but nothing. I could only hope that everything had gone well. I speculated that John was still recovering from the surgery and perhaps groggy from whatever anesthetic they had given him.
At about 11 AM my time (EDT) I got a message from John. He was still in the hospital without treatment. The doctor had demanded another $160 to do the operation.
I was overwhelmed, to be honest. To many $160 is pocket change, but it certainly isn’t to John or to me. I told John that there was simply no way I could send it. He told me that a supporter in Medina had sent him about $30 but of course that wasn’t enough.
John understood and said he was going to leave the hospital and go home, that we would talk when he got there. Then he fell silent.
Well I wrestled with myself and talked it over with my partner and finally we agreed to send John the money. It should make the rest of the month interesting for us but we couldn’t just let John die. So I stiffened my resolve and sent John the money.
The problem was that John wasn’t talking. He had fallen completely silent.
He had told me this morning that the doctor said that he had lost 60% of his blood and that if his illness wasn’t taken care of as soon as possible it might ‘spin out of control.’ He is in danger of literally bleeding to death. So of course I was concerned that he may not have even made it home from the hospital.
Finally at about 6 PM I sent a text asking if he was okay. He responded almost immediately. He was home and had been sleeping. He had received the money and will go back to the hospital in the morning.
Another night of worry, but hopefully joy cometh in the morning.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/15/2175721/-John-in-Ghana-Is-Refused-Surgery
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