Patient Stories from the Theatre Room

Flying for Life’s Kalahari Wings Project came together with partner organisation Mercy Air, who flew a group of our professional volunteers to tackle the extensive waiting list at Dr. Harrie Surtie Hospital. Our mission set out to serve the long-suffering people of the Northern Cape who received the gift of sight.

Our target was to operate on 35 patients over the three-day initiative. At the end of our outreach flight, thanks to the strength of collaboration, the team successfully operated on 75 patients.

Professional volunteer Dr Jonathan Pons shares the testimonials from some of the patients

Suffering from severe eye pain, Mrs Abrahams had visited the clinics without any improvement. She spent her last money seeing a GP and still no improvement. We diagnosed a Herpes Corneal Ulcer, potentially sight threatening. The pharmacy did not have the necessary anti-viral treatment, and she was sent to the High Street pharmacy with a script. The price of the treatment there was completely unaffordable, and she returned in tears and without hope. Fortunately, we had a spare treatment, which we gladly gave her. She was overjoyed and said that now she knew that God loved and cared for her.

Dawn had been blind for two years due to a cataract and was on a waiting list in Springbok. With Caring for Sight assistance, she was brought to Upington for surgery. She was overjoyed for now at last she had the opportunity to see again. She was looking forward to surgery! We only knew of her because on arrival in the theatre waiting area, where she had to wait for two hours, she burst into song! Her sweet songs, thanking Jesus for loving her and providing for her, drifted into the theatre and kept our spirits up during the long day of surgery!

Never a dull day in SA!

The lights suddenly went off with a boom! Loadshedding had caught the surgical team unawares, and Dr Pons was at a critical point in the surgery with instruments inside Nicho’s eye. The room went dark, all the equipment was dead, and the microscope was off. The surgeon could see nothing. The name “Eskom” came up, but not in a luminous manner. The dim emergency light came on, then the interminable wait for the generator to start. Will there be enough diesel in the tank this time? Finally, some lights brightened, and some equipment bleated plaintively. Oh dear, did the power surge destroy the delicate computerised instrument? Nicho, however, kept perfectly still, and any anxiety he felt, he kept from us. Five minutes later, the last machine had re-booted itself and we could continue. He had waited years for this operation, and not even Eskom would prevent him from seeing again!

Reveal day

It’s 7 am and the morning after surgery. All 25 of yesterday’s patients have patches on their operated eyes and are impatiently waiting for these to be removed, so that they might find out whether they would see or not. Dr Carita is like a reality show host as she gets each patient ready for the “reveal”. She takes special care of and delights in the bilateral blind, or “double blind” since the unoperated eye also cannot see. The expectation is electric. Lining up the patient with her husband, she asks the old lady: “Waneer laas het jy jou man gesien? Will jy hom nou sien?” As the patch is removed, the screams of joy and recognition echo in the hospital passages. Exuberant embraces follow and pointing, seeing what her hands and clothes look like in great surprise. And then suddenly her tears flow. Huge sobs of relief at the banishment of blindness and perhaps the years of life stolen by an easily curable malady.

Thank you for being part of the miracle of restoring Northern Cape lives. I look forward to seeing how this story continues.

Dr Jonathan Pons

People in rural communities are the most vulnerable and too often forgotten when it comes to receiving quality health care services. It takes months for them to be diagnosed and they wait years to receive the necessary surgeries.  Thanks to our partners, volunteers, and donors for being part of the projects to restore people's lives in isolated areas.

Special thanks to our team:

Sam Somdle, our formidable Project Manager. Dr Pons, joined by the following volunteers: Tharien Schoeman (optometrist), Dr Tania Conde (ophthalmologist), Dr Carita Van Rooyen, Dr XinXan Budweg, two medical students, and Dr Hans Hendriks (family physician DHSH). And David Schumacher, our pilot from Mercy Air. Medical donations: SOS contributed surgical packs, including drapes, viscoelastic and intraocular lenses. James Wright, CEO of Oertli, joined the outreach for a few days, brought viscoelastic and loaned us their phaco machine. Russell Nugent (optometrist Upington) donated some intraocular lenes. Medical Mission Eswatini provided the Statim 5000 steriliser (required for quick phaco turnaround) drugs, drapes, instruments, and many lenses. Caring for Sight who donated other surgery consumables.

Thank you for being the best supporters an initiative could ask for!

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Until our next flight,

Flying for Life

#HelpHopeHealing