October 2000 was my first trip to Haiti and the first time I met Jean Kelley.
He had an infection in his leg that had gone untreated for so long that his leg had split open - really! I still can't imagine the pain he was in and he never said a word. He had come to the clinic we did in the mountains above Pestel for treatment. It still makes my stomach flip-flop thinking about the penicillin locking up as we gave him a shot. Several months later I came back and spent three weeks taking care of him with my kids after setting up an operation to fix his leg.
I will never forget the doctor asking me if I had Advil?
Advil? Ummm, yeah!
Good!
And they rolled him off the bed on to a cot and two guys carried him down the stairs and put him in the truck for me to take him home. They just sent us on our way after opening his leg from the ankle to the knee, digging a new canal in his bone to hopefully get rid of infection and creating new area for marrow to grow in order to save his leg. I remember sitting in the truck looking at the mountains thinking about the scripture that talks about mountains being moved in one day thinking how he needed that same kind of miracle at that very minute. Again, never saying a word about being in pain.
I have spent eight years keeping track of him, getting him medical treatments when needed and having a new x-ray done to check on his leg on every trip I made to Haiti.
I am now his white mama! He is really part of our family.
Today, I can look back at those same mountains and really know that a miracle did happen for Jean Kelley. His leg is fine. Not pretty, but fine. He can play sports and walk with no problem. I do love him like he was my boy - well, he is my boy!
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