More of the Story

Here is the next part of Nate's story through other email updates written in 2007.....

August 2007
Nate has been released from the hospital after two weeks and it looks like finally we will be able to go home to Mozambique to settle in in the next few days. We had only been in Africa 10 days when this accident happened so we are looking forward to unpacking the rest of the way and settling into ministry. We know things are not going to be easy with Nate requiring constant care but we also know that God knows that and all we can do is be GRATEFUL that he is alive and still with us.

Update: Well it has taken us over a week to return to Mozambique due to needing to wait to have our passports brought to us from Mozambique and to have our new visas granted. We are so grateful that Jeff & Libby Foster have allowed us to graciously stay in their cottage for free. It ss a challenge in Zimbabwe. The cottage was without power all day, every day. It returned between 9-10 pm so that is when we tried to cook food for the next day or else we would cook over the open fire outside. Marc walks about 45 minutes each way into town in search of food and things we need like soap, TP, etc. It's not an easy task as there was not much on the shelves in the stores and if there was something like milk or bread it was gone within seconds as the mob of desperate people fight for survival.

September 2007 
We managed to get back to Mozambique from Nate's doctors appointment. We are troubled by the fact that the doctor says according to xray that his left femur bone has slipped and did not heal properly. It has already formed new bone and is joined under the knee, not lined up properly which will cause problems in the future.

October 2007
We have gone to see Dr. Kitcat, Nate's surgeon in Zimbabwe. It was a longer trip than we expected it to be. We thought we were going in for a day, having his casts removed and then returning to Mozambique, but that was not to be. He removed his left leg cast only and has said we must return to him for at least a week in order for the right leg cast to come off and for him to be fitted with a "moon boot" (an air cast boot) and have physical therapy. He was pleasantly surprised about how much range of motion Nate had in his left leg although that bone did not heal properly. He can bend it about 85 degrees. We are not sure how much of that he will be able to regain if any but we are continuing to pray for God to heal him completely. We will return next week to have the other cast removed and see how that leg is doing.


October #2 We have returned to Zimbabwe. Things are going down hill here fast. Food is becoming increasingly more difficult to find and in some parts of town the electricity is off all the time now. We have decided to stay at a guest house in town instead of in Dr. Fosters cottage for a couple of reasons. The guest house has electricity almost all the time and is in close walking distance to town and the doctors office. We have seen doctor Kitcat and Nate has had his other cast removed and been fitted with the moon boot. He can still not bear weight on his left leg at all and walks with crutches. We have had a physical therapy session which basically only entailed teaching Nate how to walk on crutches. It does not seem we will be receiving any true physical therapy here so we have information from Marc's family via internet and will do exercises with him ourselves at home to improve some range of motion and build back his lost muscle mass. We are still praying about what we should do long term for his best chance at full recovery. We are so grateful for Dr. Kitcat but he does not specialize in pediatric orthopedics and the situation economically is declining rapidly here in Zimbabwe. Even the hospital is having to run on generators.