“Merci Monsieur”, “Merci Monsieur” (thank you Sir, thank you Sir)! With tears in his eyes Armand’s father thanked me again and again. We had just arrived in Antananarivo with his 25-year-old son after a medevac flight to fetch him from a remote village. As the patient was being prepared for transport by ambulance to the hospital, I tried, with my limited grasp of the Malagasy language, to tell the father that we would be praying for his son. “Merci Monsieur”, “Merci Monsieur” (thank you Sir, thank you Sir)! With tears in his eyes Armand’s father thanked me again and again. We had just arrived in Antananarivo with his 25-year-old son after a medevac flight to fetch him from a remote village. As the patient was being prepared for transport by ambulance to the hospital, I tried, with my limited grasp of the Malagasy language, to tell the father that we would be praying for his son. “Merci Monsieur”, “Merci Monsieur” (thank you Sir, thank you Sir)! With tears in his eyes Armand’s father thanked me again and again. We had just arrived in Antananarivo with his 25-year-old son after a medevac flight to fetch him from a remote village. As the patient was being prepared for transport by ambulance to the hospital, I tried, with my limited grasp of the Malagasy language, to tell the father that we would be praying for his son.
At around 7 pm the evening before, the young man had been attacked and shot by dahalo (cattle thieves) and still had a bullet lodged in his abdomen which required urgent surgery. By 11:45 the next morning we had landed at his village and, shading him from the hot sun with umbrellas, five of his friends carried him as carefully as they could to the waiting helicopter. The doctor checked his vital signs, changed his wound dressing and quickly we set off for the return flight to Antananarivo.
When we carry out such medevac flights, my prayer is that the efforts to save their life will give them the time they need to reassess their life. Several days after this flight I enquired as to how the young man was recovering. I would like to tell you that he is recovering well: however, I was surprised to hear that, three days after surgery due to complications, he had passed away. At times like this I am tempted to question if my prayers were in vain, but then I learned that this young man was a believer. Even though his family grieved, they were very thankful that they had had the opportunity to spend the precious last few days with him.
Ross
