Kadiatu

Her decade of suffering was removed in hours.

In 1992, a cystic tumour began to grow on Kadiatu’s jaw. Over 11 years it spread, impeding her speech, pushing out her teeth and causing others to look at her with scorn.

Though she constantly covered her swollen face with a cloth or scarf, the gruesome effect of the tumour kept her isolated. Still, with three small children to care for and a household to run, Kadiatu endured the taunts and pain. “My worry was my mouth,” said Kadiatu. “I was crying and thinking, how is this problem going to be solved?”

When Kadiatu heard about a visiting Mercy Ship, she decided to attend the ship’s medical screening in Freetown. She was selected to come onboard. Surgeon, Tony Giles removed Kadiatu’s cystic tumour and inserted a titanium plate into her jaw. In a follow-up operation,Dr. Giles inserted bone grafts around the titanium plate to solidify the jawbone.

After years of suffering, Kadiatu’s life has undergone a remarkable transformation.  When a BBC film crew visited the Mercy Ship in Sierra Leone, they featured her in a one-hour production entitled African ER. Thousands of viewers around the world were impacted by her story. After viewing herself in the completed documentary, Kadiatu said simply, “I was surprised, because I saw the big change in me.”