Advertisement feature
Marie Elisa is a woman of great faith. Every morning, she would walk to her village church in Berangotra, Madagascar. This daily ritual gave her strength before she worked in her fields to support her family.
But when she turned 40, her daily routine was rocked. A simple toothache became an unrelenting pain. The only medicine she could find at her local pharmacy gave temporary relief. “The painkillers helped for a time,” she recalled. “But then the swelling started, and it just kept getting bigger until it reached this point,” she said as she pointed to her lower jaw where her huge tumour had taken root.
“I’m praying to Jesus to be healthy and able to work again,” she shared.
As the tumour grew, so did her family’s hardships. “I could no longer work in the fields or sell at the market,” she said. “My daughter had to stop school because I couldn’t pay her fees.”
Desperate for relief, her tumour only continued to grow. Though a doctor advised surgery, the cost remained far out of reach.
“It broke my heart to see her struggling every day,” says Claude, Marie Elise’s husband of twenty years. “Because the tumour was so painful, and it kept growing.”
A miracle encounter
One day, a team of Mercy Ships volunteers team drove through a small village they hadn’t intended to visit. A cyclone had just tore through the north of the island, and they had to change their route. There, on the side of the road, they spotted a woman with a visible tumour on her face. It was Marie Elisa.
“We saw Marie Elisa walking through the market and three of us yelled, ‘Stop the bus!’” recalled Maddy Hartung, an Australian volunteer nurse.
The team examined Marie Elisa, explaining the possibility of free surgery. Though initially cautious, she took a leap of faith. “I was sick and willing to risk it – I had nothing to lose,” she said.
“She was meant to be on that side of the road. God had a plan for her,” Maddy reflected.
Journey to healing
Marie Elisa travelled for three days to Toamasina to the ship.
“With her so far away, all I could do was pray,” says Claude. “I kept saying, ‘Oh God, please heal my wife and free her from this illness.’”
Thankfully, she was in expert hands. She received surgical care from our volunteer surgeons who removed her tumour.
An answer to her prayers
“I thank God the tumour was removed and I’m healthy again. The surgery went well, and now I can eat normally without any issues,” Marie Elisa shared eagerly, ready to return home after her successful operation.
When Marie Elisa returned home safely, her husband Claude was relieved: “I am happy that she is doing well and has not suffered any discomfort. I have always loved her, even with this disease.”
All of this healing is possible thanks to the love that you share.
