Brett and Sheri MacLean

About Us › Our Family › Locate a Worker

Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

***If you would like our full letters with pictures, please email us to be added to our email list (brettandsheri@gmail.com)

MALI MALARIA SEASON
We are in the thick of malaria season here which means that we give numerous
blood transfusions daily and emergency care including intraosseous
infusions (giving blood and fluid by sticking a needle through the
bone into the marrow of a severely dehydrated child when their veins are
too shrunk to put in an IV). Awa (right) is one of our many severe malaria
patients who was so sick that her father had given up all hope and gone
to the market to work. The mother had heard of our hospital through
friends and brought her dying child to us on her own. The father was astonished
when he found out that his daughter was still alive and that after
a couple of days of meds and blood transfusions was doing quite well!
This story repeats itself often as Malians have never seen their children
recover after reaching a certain severity of illness. They feel as though
their children have been raised from the dead! We pray that through
these blessings they will also be open to hearing about the ultimate One
who raises the dead and is responsible for everything we are doing here.

CURRENT AND FORMER PATIENTS (Yuma and Bakary)
Thank you for your prayers for
Yuma who swallowed lye, which
completely scarred shut her
esophagus. Thanks to Dr Jose Uroz
Tristan opening up her abdomen
and finding the lower hole of her
esophagus, she was finally able to
be dilated and then began to swallow
her own saliva for the first time
in 9 months. Then with dilating
tubes that Dr Jose donated to us,
we were able to open her esophagus
more and more each week so
that now she is eating and drinking!
What a joy to watch her eat!

You may remember this picture of
Bakary, the emaciated baby with
tetanus, from our last update, who
was unable to even suck. Praise
the Lord that here below is Bakary
now happy and chubby!

THE SUMMER OF PICASSO
In addition to the malaria we have been battling at the hospital, we can best describe our patients this
summer as most closely resembling the work of Picasso. Thankfully, through the help of visiting surgeons,
mainly Dr Jose Uroz Tristan of the Canary Islands, Spain, we were able to restore these Picassos
to the more traditional appearance. The families and children were absolutely amazed, as most
were unaware that anything could even be done for these malformations and growths. Even a 20 year
old woman, Jeneba, born with a cleft lip, showed up after hearing our radio announcement. Her family
said that they had never heard that it could be fixed. What a difference now!

There is still more work to be done as we are looking to schedule other kids for surgery such as this 7
year old boy who was severely burned over 4 years ago and is unable to even move his head due to the
contracted scar. Can you imagine never even being able to close your mouth or turn your head the way
you need to? Also this 10 year-old girl at bottom right needs a lymphatic malformation wrapped around
her eye removed. Please pray that someone would contact us that can remove it since we have yet to
find anyone who can. She has already lived like this for 5 years, being unable to open her eye.

WORD OF MOUTH IS THE BEST REFERRAL
Arouna (see Summer of Picasso pictures) showed up at our hospital after Ousmane
(to the left of him on prior page), a 12 year-old from their distant village, had returned
home with his cleft lip repaired. Having seen what was done, his family hoped we
could fix their boy as well. He wore this veil everywhere he went to avoid the onlookers
as well as to keep things out of his mouth since the mass forced it to stay fully
open. We were able to diagnose his rapidly growing mass as a Burkitt’s lymphoma
and find chemotherapy for him. Here he is after just 2 of the 6 cycles he will be getting!
The family actually didn’t come back after his 1st round of chemo, so I called the
village to send someone to ask why. I then learned that they owned a cow and were
trying to sell it to cover the cost of the chemo. They had
only half of the needed $500 (the rest of their expenses
we covered through your giving to our work fund). But
since this is the hunger period in Mali, when the food
from last year’s crops has run out but this rainy season’s
harvest hasn’t come yet, nobody could afford to buy it. I
restated to them that money could be dealt with after the
3 months of treatment was finished and that they didn’t
need to worry about that now so, thankfully, they returned.
Pray that during this time at the hospital we can
clearly make the gospel known to Arouna and his family.

OTHER CHILDREN THE LORD HAS BROUGHT OUR WAY
Mariam: After her mother abandoned her, Mariam’s grandmother started trying to
nurse her. With the little milk she produced Mariam was over 9 months old and only
7 pounds. Thankfully after many, many visits, the grandmother finally agreed to let
us take custody of her for 3 months. Now, only 1 month into her
stay here she has more than doubled her weight to 15 pounds!

Né: Né is a twelve year-old girl who had an intestinal perforation
from typhoid. Through the long hard work and multiple
surgeries of our surgical team, especially Dr Saskia, her life
was spared and as she passed the summer with us at our
hospital, she and her older brother were touched by the love
of Christ. As a result, they decided to become followers of
Christ and began joining us for our morning chapel. Please
pray that Né and her brother Amadou would continue to seek
Christ now that they have returned to their village. Like most
of those who find Christ while they are at our hospital, they
are the first believers ever from their village. Join us in praising
God for this!

NO 2ND PEDIATRICIAN
Once again God is reminding us that it is He that is building this hospital for His
glory and in His timing, not mine. Also I apparently need to learn to rely on Him
more since I continue to be put into situations that show my weakness and His
strength. Eight days prior to her departure flight from the United States to Mali,
we received an email from the pediatrician who was due to come for 2 years
stating that despite spending a year in France learning French she did not want
to come to Mali. Although completely astounded at this late timing and despite
all the preparations we had made for her including scheduling, hospital office,
car, and housing, I was able to receive this news relatively well. God must
have known that I could not have handled knowing in advance as He has been
working to heal my grief and depression since my father’s unexpected death.
To help me survive the workload, Sheri has been helping a lot as she has been
working every morning at the hospital with me. It is so much fun to work with
your best friend! In addition to Sheri, nurse Jake Tillet has arrived for 1-2 years
and with the other pediatrician not coming, Jake, despite having mainly worked
in adult critical care, has agreed to try to learn as much pediatrics as possible
prior to our next Furlough April-June 2010.

GREAT COMMISSION FUND
Thank you so much for giving to the Great Commission Fund which allows
us to be here and work in Mali! We appreciate you all so much for
supporting us through your prayers and giving and are blessed to have
a team such as you alongside us. We hope this letter has given you an
idea of the types of things God does through us with your prayers and
giving. In addition, we are able to do so much through your giving to our
work fund. To the left are 3 nurses that I have been training to do pediatrics
proudly holding the books that I purchased for them through giving
to our work fund. In addition, we are hoping to use work funds to
make it to Kenya in February for the Christian Medical and Dental Association’s conference of all medical
missionaries in Africa which is held every 2 years. This would be a great time of fellowship with others
doing similar work as well as terrific continuing education to help Sheri and I to improve the care we
give. The cost of the two-week conference including flights, lodging, food, and other transportation will
be several thousand dollars and we are praying that the Lord provides the needed funds for this. Thank
you again to all of you for your giving and prayer support of our work!

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

Praises
-For Brett’s renewed mood and
strength to work long hours and see
difficult, sad cases
-For the many helpful visitors this
summer including my own pediatrician
since birth Dr Dan Brown who
was such a blessing
-For nurse Jake Tillet who has arrived
and is helping with Pediatrics
-For the good rains that will provide
needed food for the people of Mali

Prayer Requests
-Continued strength during this
busy rainy season
-For protection for the Malian
children undergoing this yearly
plague of malaria
-That the name of Christ would
continue to reach villages that
have never heard of him

Mali

Approved Specials

If you wish to contribute to one of our specials (vehicle funds, building projects, etc.) you may select it from the Approved Specials List.

Share

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•