Harimalala reclaimed her life
because of you
On the remote island of Madagascar, our medical volunteers travelled many hundreds of miles across the country, to find people most in need of surgery.
And thanks to your love and support, we found Harimalala.
It all started when Harimalala was 12. She was at school, enjoying her studies, making friends, and dreaming about her future.
One day, she woke up with a sore throat. Her voice sounded hoarse. Harimalala discovered she had a lump – a goitre – on her throat.
“I took medicines, but it kept growing. I even went to a traditional healer, but it kept growing even more,” she recalls.
Every day, her goitre grew more and more, until it became impossible to ignore. It forced her to drop out of school, and changed her hopes for the future.
“I don’t dare go to church because people stare at me. People gossip, they talk – they say I have a big thing on my neck. I feel so ashamed,” she told us.
For the next 12 years, Harimalala wrapped a scarf around her neck to hide her condition.
A small ray of hope kept her going. When she heard from her neighbour about a free surgery he received many years ago from Mercy Ships, she prayed that we would return.
Now a young woman at 24, her hope was beginning to fade. Her friends were starting to get married, and she felt so alone. She recalls, “I thought I couldn’t have children since no one wanted to marry me.”
Thanks to you, Harimalala never gave up hope. Mercy Ships sailed to Madagascar, fuelled by the love and prayers of friends like you.
When our volunteers first met Harimalala, we knew she needed surgery right away.
“The narrowing of her airway was quite critical, and she was finding it very difficult to breathe,” said Dr Collins, the surgeon who would later perform her surgery.
“She had a typical, but massive, multinodular goitre. Breathing, talking and swallowing food had become very difficult. For Harimalala, her condition was close to being critical.”
“She was such an advocate for herself from the very beginning,” said Maddy Hartung, Mercy Ships’ volunteer clinical supervisor. “She knew that we might have been her only hope for surgery, and she wanted to make sure that she would be seen.”
Our medical team knew she couldn’t wait much longer. Harimalala needed help – now.
“We were worried that her goitre might compress her windpipe and suffocate her”, explains our Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sarah Kwok-Page.
Harimalala was taken in our Mercy Ships vehicle that same day for emergency care. She stayed in our HOPE Centre for many months to reduce her goitre before surgery.
“She was very brave to stay in a strange place and trust strangers to take care of her,” says Sarah.
The morning of her surgery, Harimalala felt calm and excited about her future. It was a delicate surgical procedure, but after four hours, she was finally free from her goitre.
After her surgery, you could see joy was blossoming all around her. On her hospital bed, nurses smiled and hugged her as she saw her goitre had gone.
And as she recovered at our HOPE Centre, Harimalala sang and danced for joy.
“I feel like I’ve entered a new life because, before, I was uncertain whether I would die or live. I have a new life now because I have recovered fully.”
Seeing the joy in her eyes, you would never know the pain she has been through.
Now, Harimalala smiles as she thinks about all the good things to come. “I can get married and have children because the growth is gone.”
Right now, there’s someone like Harimalala who needs your help.
Will you help fund a life-saving surgery on our hospital ship?
