A little Faith and a big miracle

B is a very sweet 21 year old lady who presented to Kapsowar Hospital when she was 33 weeks pregnant. She was complaining of abdominal and joint pains, headache, and fevers. While this might not sound like anything familiar to those in the West, here those are the classic symptoms of malaria. B is from Kapsowar and malaria is not actually common here because we sit at 7500 feet altitude. I asked her if she had traveled recently, and she said that she had gone to Kisumu, which sits on Lake Victoria and is a hotbed for malaria. We tested her blood and saw that she was very positive for malaria, so we started her on the appropriate IV medication.
The next day, B was feeling a little better, although still having occasional fevers. Her baby seemed to be doing well too. That night, one of my colleagues was on call, and he was called to maternity because B had become agitated and confused and now had no control over her bladder. By the next morning, she was essentially comatose, responding only to pain. She had developed cerebral malaria - a condition caused by blockage of the blood vessels in the brain by the malaria parasites. Something I have definitely never seen or taken care of before. So, after quickly reading up on it, we added another medication, placed a tube into her stomach (to prevent her from vomiting and aspirating) and waited.
In the midst of all of this, I did an ultrasound to evaluate how her baby was doing. After watching for over 30 minutes, there was no movement. She had received some medication that might have caused this, so I decided to wait a few hours and repeat the ultrasound. The next one showed the same thing. There are no textbooks to tell me exactly what to do with this - how do I best save the baby and the mom? B was certainly not in good condition to have surgery. I prayed and prayed. One of my Kenyan colleagues told me that he had seen a mom like this before who improved dramatically after delivery, because a lot of malaria parasites can hide out in the placenta, making them difficult to get rid of. On the other hand, her baby was premature and here that can be difficult to care for.
In the end, we decided to do a C-section. I spoke with her family and they agreed. When we got her to theatre, we all gathered around her as she laid there completely unaware of what was going on, and laid hands on her and prayed. The C-section went well and her beautiful baby girl came out screaming. As we brought her husband in to see his new baby, he had a huge smile on his face and thanked us for saving her.
Over the next few days, we didn't see dramatic improvements, but each day she was a little better. By the 4th day after delivery, she was able to respond to commands. The next day she was fully awake and answering questions. Yesterday, I discharged her from the hospital, doing very well. She still has a bit of a flat affect (residual effects of the malaria), but is so happy to be with her new baby.

Thank you to all of you who were praying for B and her baby, Faith! I was able to tell her that she was brought back from near death by the prayers of people all over the world. I praise God for answers to prayer and His ability to still work miracles! I also praise Him for the opportunity to work in a place where I can openly pray for patients and tell them about God's power in their lives.

Me with B and baby Faith on the day they went home