February 06, 2010
In my last blog, I shared with you about a woman who had lay in the hospital in Fort Liberte (about 15 miles from our work in Ouanaminthe). She had a severe cut underneath her chin from falling debris in the earthquake that without treatment had become terribly infected. Our first group of doctors to arrive removed 200 ccs of liquid from her extremely swollen face, and immediately put her on strong antibiotics to try and save her life.
I arrived back home in New Jersey early Wednesday morning, and later that day I learned that this precious woman had died only a few hours before. Thus the title of this post. It is simply not possible for me to wrap my mind around the estimated number of 170,000 deaths that have already occurred from the earthquake in Haiti. I can, however, understand this one individual’s death. I wish that could remember her name, so that I could share it with you. Regardless, in the short few minutes I spent with her I came to love her; and her death has affected me profoundly. My fear is that people in America and throughout the world are already experiencing the beginning stages of compassion fatigue ~ a condition where some people develop an almost jaded attitude toward appeals for donations or charitable aid after the beginning stages of an ongoing tragedy.
I want to give those of you who read this blog examples of real people, so you will never forget. At the same time, I also want to share hope so that you never forget the good being done in the midst of such unspeakable sadness. In my January 22nd post, I shared a picture of a teenager (lying in the same hospital in Fort Liberte) who had suffered the loss of his right leg and also severely broken his arm in the quake. The picture you see here is of my friend, Dr. Lonnie Stanton, with this same young man. 
The same day that my friend above died, Lonnie had to perform further surgery on this boy’s leg. During the original amputation before our doctors arrived, part of the bone had been left protruding through the wound. Lonnie had to go back in, clean things up and re-suture everything. He says the young man should make a complete recovery; and our hopes are to then find a way to locate a prosthetic leg to be properly fitted. It is unimaginable that many who have lost legs in the quake will struggle for the rest of their lives trying to walk with crutches on dirt streets and rough terrain.
Many years ago I saw an inspiring movie called The Power of One. It chronicled the horrors of apartheid in South Africa. Throughout the 35-year history of Aslan, we have tried our best to live by the principle that one person in this world can make a difference and that the changing of one life makes a difference. No one will ever know the actual final count of how many souls have been lost from this earthquake. I will, however, never forget this sweet soul whodied in Fort Liberte. Thank you Colleen, Lonnie, Dr. Padilla and all your wonderful team who fought your hardest to save the life of this ~ the 170,000th and one.
Craig
