Volunteers have been giving up their time to come and serve the poor and needy with Mercy Ships for the past 30 years, coming and going as God calls them. One volunteer is still here today, Gary Parker; in the hospital he is known as Dr. Gary.
Dr. Gary previously served onboard the M/V Anastasis; little did he know that the day he walked up the gangway in San Diego in the year 1987 marked the beginning of a very long stay. It was there he met his wife Susan and raised his family in a small cabin located on the upper deck. He had discovered his heart’s passion and his calling in life, serving the sick and hurting people of West Africa. His skills were desperately needed, and many days he would never even see his children as he worked from early morning until dark. Yet he enjoyed his job greatly, using his hands to save faces and lives.
Currently Dr. Gary lives and works onboard the newest addition to the Mercy Ships fleet and at present, the only Mercy ship, the M/V Africa Mercy. He lives onboard with his wife and two children. Dr. Gary is a maxillofacial surgeon and the chief medical officer onboard the floating hospital located on the lower deck of the ship.
Throughout his many years of operating, Dr. Gary has witnessed his share of miracles. There are times in the Operating Room and wards when things go urgently wrong, and Dr. Gary cannot depend on his skills alone to fix things. But through it all God has always been there for him, and has preformed miraculous healings and signs that Dr. Gary still treasures in his heart today.
One of these life-changing moments took place on the Anastasis, which was docked in the Ivory Coast in the year 1992.
Three year old Bienvenue came to the ship with his mother, who was desperate for help for her little boy. Bienvenue had a tumour hanging off his neck the size of a big mango; it had appeared suddenly and grown at a quite rapid pace. Dr. Gary had his doubts about the little boy, but he went ahead and took a small pie
ce from the tumour—a biopsy—sending it away to experts. They would be able to tell him exactly what type of tumour he was dealing with. When Dr. Gary performed the surgery to remove a piece of the tumour, he prayed over Bienvenue, as he did for all of his patients, asking for healing and strength. However, he clearly remembers that inside he was feeling like this Bienvenue’s case was hopeless.
When the results of the biopsy came back, they held bad news…very bad news. The tumour growing on Bienvenue’s neck was highly cancerous, and fatal. His heart sank; there was nothing he could do for the little three-year-old, who was so innocent and helpless. He would have to break the news to Bienvenue’s mother, who had so much hope in the doctors and nurses onboard. He would have to tell her that her son was going to die, and all they could do was go back to their village and wait. It was the type of news every doctor dreads giving. Dr. Gary had sent Bienvenue and his mother home while he waited for the biopsy results to come back. Now two weeks later, they had returned to hear the results.
Dr. Gary walked slowly down to the ward, his head spinning, going over how he would tell her, and what he would say to comfort the heart-broken mother. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t pay any attention at all to the little boy who was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with a balloon, or the mother who was waving frantically at him and pointing to her happy, giggling son. Finally Dr. Gary looked up at the woman. She was beaming and pointing to her son. He looked down; the boy on the floor was Bienvenue. But it was not the Bienvenue he was used to seeing, because where his tumour had been, there was nothing but sagging skin. Dr. Gary was in total shock; he could not believe what he was seeing. He ran over and pulled another doctor over to where Bienvenue sat playing. He watched as the doctor’s eyes widened and then popped nearly out of her head. No one understood what was going on. As far as she knew, the tumour had been there last she checked, when they sent them home tow weeks ago. How could a huge cancerous tumour just disappear? Dr. Gary sent them back to their village, still not convinced that the tumour was completely gone. He told them to come back in two weeks to see if the tumour had come back.
Two weeks later, they returned. Bienvenue was happy as ever, and his empty sack of skin that had once held the deadly tumour was getting tighter. Dr. Gary shook his head in wonder. This truly was a miracle. God had spared this little boy’s life. Dr. Gary told them to come back in another two weeks, which they did and Dr. Gary found that the sagging skin was even tighter. Finally he told them to come back one more time for a final check-up. When the mother and son came, the sagging skin was no longer there; it had completely healed. It was as if the tumour had never even been there.
With a joyful heart Dr. Gary said his goodbyes to the young mother and Bienvenue. God had answered his prayer for healing, and as far as he knows, Bienvenue grew up to be a healthy young lad; the cancerous tumour never bothered him again.
A radio broadcasting company found out about Bienvenue’s amazing miraculous story. They called Dr. Gary up, asking him if he would be willing to share Bienvenue’s story on the radio, which would be broadcast across America. After thinking about it, Dr. Gary replied saying he would, as long as they allowed him to tell the story of Fatimata as well.
Fatimata had come the same week as Bienvenue. She had a tumour bulging out behind her eye. She was three as well, and innocent as could be. Dr. Gary had prayed over her, with that same sinking feeling he had when praying over Bienvenue. He took a biopsy and sent it away. When it came back, the results showed that Fatimata’s tumour was highly cancerous as well. There was nothing he could do. The nurses gave Fatimata’s parents medicine to help with her pain. The nurses taught them how to care for their daughter, and then Dr. Gary and the other doctors had no choice but to send them away. The little family headed back to their village to care for Fatimata until she died.
The radio company turned Dr. Gary’s request down. They only wanted to hear the story where God healed Bienvenue. They had no desire to hear the sad story of Fatimata, and how God had not answered Dr. Gary’s prayer for healing.
However, in Dr. Gary’s view, God had saved one little three year old boy physically, giving him more time here on ear
th. In Fatimata’s case, it was time for her to come home to Him.
Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it is no, and other times He will tell you, not now, wait. (Gary Parker)
But in either case, God is doing what He knows is best. This is what Dr. Gary wanted to share on the radio. God will always answer, whether it is how you intend Him to answer or not. He never left Fatimata; it was just time for her to come home to Him.
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The red carpet was rolled out for the Africa Mercy celebrities (a.k.a all crew) on Saturday the 15th of May during the hospital ship's third annual film festival. Every crew member came dressed appropriately in fancy evening gowns or clean-cut suits. As the evening commenced, the Africa Mercy's chaplain Marty Schwebel and the Executive Chef Jesse Mitchell began to present the films rich in comedy, tragedy, drama, and suspense.
Welder Jeff Howard and his wife Megan created a film with a message saying that we are all like matches: if we get too heated up about something, we burn and affect others by burning them. So stay cool! The two also submitted a home video of their 3-year old son Max running around in their apartment with a pillow stuffed in his onesie. The crew was in stitches laughing at this young star's experience. Jeff Howard was rewarded with the prize for Best Screenplay.
There was a variety of projects, ranging from growing bacteria to launching potato's out of a potato gun and everything in between. There were Smiles and laughs and also some gross looks. There were observers with questions and students with answers.
ater bottle (which I had frozen the night before).
er 1 to half an hour. After a bit we came to this little village that escorted us to Gape Aloyi and I knew that we where almost there. When we arrived there was a huge welcoming committee
