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I met Renette on my second day in Haiti. We didn't get to know her as well as our other patient's mother, but she touched my heart in a special way. I continue to pray for her and think of her everyday.
I met Renette when we received patients from the USNS Comfort. She accompanied her infant son Easia. He was suffering from some kind of unknown neurological problem and was developmentally delayed. What a beautiful family.
Renette and her son Easia.
When Renette and her baby came to us, she was very quiet and withdrawn. I encouraged her to eat & drink as she was not doing so. She was breastfeeding her baby and she needed to drink. I asked Gerard the Pastor at the church where our operation was, to come and talk to her. She was crying and despite my efforts to comfort her, I didn't have the words to do so. I was also afraid if she didn't eat and drink that we would have another patient on our hands.
Gerard came and spoke with Renette. Without him none of us would have known her story. Gerard explained to us as he was talking to Renette, that Easia was her and her husband's first child. They had known something was wrong, that he wasn't progressing. We aren't sure how, but somehow she made her way onto the Comfort. The Comfort is a hospital on the water, and there is so much high tech equipment on board that isn't available anywhere in Haiti. A battery of tests were done on Easia, and Renette was advised there was nothing that could be done for him, and that he would at some point die.
Dr Adam reviewing charts for the USNS Comfort.
Renette was visibly heartbroken. I watched her lovingly nurse and care for her son. I could not imagine her pain. Gerard further explained that since the earthquake, she had not seen her own family. She had not been able to contact anyone by phone. She had been in touch with her husband's family. Renette did not know if her parents or siblings were even alive, and if they were, they didn't know that she was OK.
Renette asked if she could leave. We didn't, at the time, know the answer to that. Momma V had accepted care of Easia from the Comfort, and we weren't sure if we could just let her leave or what we needed to do. So we asked her to stay one more night until we verified with Vanessa that we could do that.
In the meantime, we tried to give her comfort and encourage her to eat and drink. We even got Mother Christine involved to encourage her to eat. We heard from Vanessa the following morning, and just needed to get a working phone number for Renette, and she was free to leave. Needless to say, in the morning we did not have the luxury of a translator, so it was a comedy of errors trying to get Renette to give us her cell phone number and then trying to ask Christine to "Call Renette" so we could verify that it was a working number. We did finally manage to convey our needs despite the language barrier.
Renette and Easia left early that morning. I have no idea what was waiting for her on the other end. I can only hope that Renette found her family alive and well. I have hope that she and her baby continue to have many everyday moments together. I know I will never forget either one of them.
