Here's some photos of my time spent in the Operating Room, and photos of other operations performed over the outreach. Some of the photos are a bit graphic, so you might want to skip this site if you're not interested in a little gore.

Here's me working really hard. I was trained to be the circulating/scout nurse. If the sterile nurses or surgeons needed anything I would grab it for them. Much of the time I didn't have too much to do, so I caught up on a lot of reading.

Dr Gary Parker, Dr Leo Cheng, and Sutton, an OR sterilizer. Dr Gary is my new hero. He has worked on the ship for 19 years, met his wife here and has brought up his 2 children on the ship. He is totally devoted to Africa, and is the most humble, gentle and kind man I have ever met. Even after 19 years of service he continues to pay the same crew fees that all volunteers are expected to pay. A truly incredible man.

These are the 3 people I worked with the most over my stay in the OR. Dr Peter from England, Dr Luer from Germany, and Bethany, an OR nurse from the US. They spent the whole time hassling me, they called me the OR D.J and lunch guy. Thanks Bethany for teaching me to be the best circulating nurse this side of Texas.

Here is Dr Gary assessing a child with a bilateral cleft lip. In the womb this boys lip did not fuse properly, and he has 2 gaping slits between his upper lip and his nose. We find babies with cleft lips severely malnourished due to difficulty breastfeeding.

This is baby Abubakkar, who was given his smile back through a 2 hour cleft lip repair.














This is an example of the many tumours we removed over my stay in the OR. This guy has a huge lipoma (fatty tumour) under his chin.






Imagine having this sitting under your chin.













Beatrice came to the ship with a 6 pound tumour growing from her maxilla. It was virtually impossible for her to eat or speak, and she lived totally shunned from the rest of her community.










Beatrice glowing in her new dignity, pride and future.

My second day in the OR I scout nursed for a major maxillo-facial surgery, an eight hour operation to remove this man's maxilla (cheek bone). Out of his maxilla grew a HUGE tumour the size of a small football. Unheard of back home, that with no OR training I would be allowed in on a major case like this, but I held my own.

Next photos are particularly gory. Although I did okay during the operation, I had quite disturbing dreams that night. Mixed with the anti-malarial that I am on, which gives me crazy dreams already, I must say I had a very disturbing night the second day of my OR experience.

Pretty much half of his face was cut out, right down until we could see his base of skull. Quite unnerving. Incredible though. We then pulled a muscle flap from his temple region (a temporalis flap), and pulled it under and accross his face to give some shape to his face.

The end product. A removed maxilla, a few pulled teeth, and some extra scrapings of tumour from inside the face. Gross.

Ok, no more photos that bad.....

Most of you know the story of Harris, who came to us just before Christmas with a big tumour growing from his mandible (jaw).

This was his pre-op xray. People frequently ask me why we don't see these kind of tumours in the western world. There are 2 reasons. 1) tumours are diagnosed a lot quicker in the western world, and are therefore treated before they reach this stage.
2) many of these jaw tumours start out as small dental infections that could be treated with simple antibiotics, which are expensive and inaccessible in the third world.

On Harris' homecoming he was met by hundreds of people, many who had previously ostracized him, who came in wonderment at his new face. He pointed to God, giving God the glory for his incredible healing.

Assan and Alusan are identical twins who were born in in a Refugee camp in Liberia. Both were born with bilateral cataracts, a clouding of the eyes lens. Before coming to the ship they had never seen their mothers face. They had never seen the clothes they wear, the refugee camp they lived in, or their own twins face. The odds of being born identical twins with bilateral cataracts, and born in a displaced persons camp, is about 1 in 380 million.

After their successful cataract operation these 1 in 380 million children saw for the first time. They marveled at coloured balloons, and looked at their mothers face for the first time ever.


Dr Glenn Strauss performed the operation, in which a small cut is made in the cornea, and a needle is inserted into the eye. Sound waves are projected into the cornea, breaking up the lens into small pieces, which are then suctioned up through the needle. The lens is then replaced with a prosthetic lens. An incredibly intricate surgery, in this photo Dr Strauss sutures up the cut in the cornea with sutures barely visible to the human eye.

Again, cataracts are another illness only found among the ageing in the western world. Cataracts in the third world are probably a result of poor nutrition.

This was my favorite surgery whilst in the OR. A 6 year old boy had fallen off his bike 2 weeks before attending out dental clinic. They had been unable to receive any medical intervention at the local hospital, so had returned home with a full fracture through the mandible. I cant even imagine how much pain this boy was in for 2 weeks. He came to the ship for an emergency operation to realign the mandible and for a metal plate to be fitted to support his jaw. Had the ship not been in Liberia, the boy probably would not have been treated, and would have probably died of malnutrition. Thank God that we were here at this particular time.

And finally, this is beautiful Gifty. A few years ago Gifty was burnt in a house fire. With little treatment, and as the skin eventually started to heal, the skin started contracting and pulling her arms together at the inside of the elbow.

Dr Tertius performed an operation to release the contracted skin, giving her back movement in her arms. Seeing incredible smiles like this after their surgeries makes this job so inexplicably rewarding. I thank God for every moment I have here serving the people of Liberia.