Tuberculosis...

This last week, I peeked in on Dennis to ask him about something. What I saw was very unusual. A young boy lay twisted on the bed, crunched a little with a protruding bump on the center of his spine. When he sat up, Dennis showed me two very enlarged lymph nodes. He was struggling for breath because of the pressure they placed on his airway. He was small for his age and looked very unhappy. He knew he was sick...

I had never seen anything like it. Dennis explained that he had tuberculosis of the spine. He added this was the first case he’s seen in the year and a half he’s been here and that it was well advanced. We had no choice but to refer him to Wau. The mother seemed to appreciate the gravity of the disease. I can only pray she went.