Story of Ramatu

Ramatu's  facial tumor started to develop seven years ago when she was 12.  It is very common for a child who has any sort of physical deformity to be thrown out of the house and Ramatu was no exception.  Her parents abandoned her and she went to live on the streets of Freetown.  Medical care here is virtually nonexistent, so Ramatu just resigned herself to life of begging and waiting until the tumor became so large that either she suffocated or starved to death. 

Then she heard that Mercy Ships was coming to Sierra Leone; she queued up with thousands of others for an initial screening.  She was told that if the tumor was benign, she could be helped and was given an appointment card to come on board for a CT Scan (the only one in West Africa)!  Then came the good news that she would receive the surgery...from one of the best maxfax surgeon's in the world, Dr. Gary Parker.

Mainly because of superstition, Ramatu has lived as an outcast for the past seven years, an untouchable; so when she arrived in Admissions and someone placed their hand on her shoulder, looked into her eyes, and told her the crew would do their very best to help her, she was incredibly moved. 

Ramatu's transformation is still a work in progress, but you can see her bright smile of hope.