#13 Lifelines with Isaac Burton

Can you imagine losing a part of you, your family, all that you’re familiar with, yet having a positive attitude? Isaac is a living testimony of this. Isaac went from being a healthy child surrounded by family to suddenly becoming ill and spending years in a hospital. At every medical challenge, Isaac maintained a grateful attitude for all the people who helped him along the way. They inspired and motivated him, even during his most significant losses, to focus on all he had and all he could do, and to walk in faith. 

By hearing his story, you will gain a sense of hope to keep moving forward and never give up, because there is a breakthrough on the other side. 

Reflection questions:

• What or who are you most grateful for in your life, and why?
• What are things you can do to maintain a heart of gratitude and hope amid loss?
• Who are some people who helped to uplift you during your loneliest days or moments of loss?

Contact for the guest

Isaac Burton Photography, www.PicturesByIsaac.com

Remember, God loves you, and He has chosen you to fulfill His good purpose. 

Letters from the Chosens

Contact us at lettersfromchosens@lettersstar.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Every story is important, and every story needs to be heard by someone, whether an audience of one or one million. Our stories are valuable because we have no idea the ripple effects it can have on generations to come. So join me in listening to stories of how unlikely people became unexpectedly connected. Their stories reveal that we were never meant to face life alone. And in helping one another, we end up finding ourselves and our purpose. Welcome to Letters from the Chosens. Welcome to Letters from the Chosens. I am Naomi Major, your host, and today I have the honor and privilege of discussing my wonderful friend Isaac Story. Isaac, I've known for many, many years, and he has worked in environmental services with Virtual Rehab Center, and he has a great working relationship with his team there. But today we're not going to focus so much on that. We're going to talk about his adoption story and how he overcame the many challenges and obstacles in his path to get to his life here in the United States. So I'm so excited. Welcome, Isaac. And I just want to thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_06 1:25

Thank you for inviting me. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

Yes, it's it's it's amazing. But before we get into your story, I have seen social media helps us that you had an incredible milestone recently. So do you want to share with us what that was?

SPEAKER_06 1:44

Yes, absolutely. I graduated from uh Rowan University this year. Um not this year, but last year, 2024, uh with a bachelor of um study. Um my goal is to um to work as uh for special needs children. Um so right now I'm working on that and how I became um you know to pick that kind of major is that I I have I have some uh passion to helping these uh special needs children. Yeah. So yeah, that's what I'm at with that.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

All right. Well I first want to just congratulate you on that amazing accomplishment. And it's not easy, um, but you did it and you did it where many people don't start or they start and they don't finish. Um, and you had challenges to overcome even with that. Um yeah, incredible job. And we'll get more into that as we get into your story, but congratulations again now virtually from me. Um what I want to ask is Yeah, what inspired you to um desire to work with those with special needs?

SPEAKER_06 3:12

Well, um when I first um arrived in United States uh 1996, um I think we're gonna get into that. Um I got my my arm uh to to get a surgery done on my left arm, um which they couldn't save it, unfortunately. But by the grace of God, um I got a good help from Shannon's uh hospital in Chicago. And um and so while I was there um I got to know the children in in uh in that place in uh Shannon's hospital. And so one day um after I got my well when I was here going back, sorry, you know, lingering. So when I first got here, um my arm was so bad. So they decided to they couldn't save the left arm. So they have to amputate it. And I was about 15 years old. And they decided, you know, we have to get rid of um the the hint to get her to get rid of the infection, we have to get rid of uh the left arm. So that's what they did. So they got rid of the left arm. So I when I woke up, um, you know, it was so much pain. So we get into where um why I chose this place. I chose what uh the special needs. So anyway, so when I woke up, I had this problem with my um with the pain and everything. But with so much people were praying for me and everything else, um, I was able to overcome um the depression and you know, because I had my arm for the longest time, you know, since I was born. So anyway, um so while I was in the hospital, I got to meet so many children uh in the hospital, uh Shrana's hospital. So one day we they were we're playing uh basketball game, and even though we can walk, we all have to sit down in the wheelchair. And as I sat in a wheelchair playing basketball with these children, I noticed um they're all everybody was happy. All of them were happy. So I put myself, I I look at them as like, wow, look at them. They're in a wheelchair, they're never probab never gonna get up again, but they're happy. So I put my situation in perspective, knowing that, knowing that if they can do it, if they can do it with the happiness in their faces, um, so do I. So from that day on, even though they were not special need, for that day on, but they were mixed. So from that day on, I say, whatever, when I go to school, when I graduate from school, whatever that is, that point I didn't know when I was gonna go to school or not. So when I graduated, I said this is what I want to do, is to help the uh special need children um to bring them also hope because some of them can also give it depression and and things like that. And so that's where I'm at with that. It's I'm still working on that. So I hope it's not that long.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Okay. No, no, that was really, really good. So your motivation for wanting to help those with um any type of physical needs comes from your experience of losing your arm. Um when you said you were 15.

SPEAKER_06 7:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

When you were 15, and then um being at Shriner's Hospital and being around the other children who were also um had their own physical challenges to overcome.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Okay, that's that's amazing, and thank you so much for sharing that. But I think just uh for everybody else listening, we've got to backtrack a little bit. So you were telling us about having to have your arm amputated at the age of 15. Can you take us back to why you had to have your arm amputated and then how you got here to the United States?

SPEAKER_06 7:45

Absolutely. I'm glad to do so. So um I I was born in Ghana, West Africa, uh, in a small village with um uh as everybody knows, that part of the world is poor. So I was born into a poor, poor uh environment. So um where I'm from, we didn't have any water or uh enough food to eat. Um so I was born into two brothers. I was the oldest of the two. So um there was a lot of problems in that village. There was a lot of poor conditions, um, diseases. I mean, everybody knows that. Everybody who studied that part of the water knows that. So, and my story goes far that that far. So um when I got into a situation where um there were there was no running water, like I said. So we have to walk like 30 miles every morning, my brothers and I, to go get the water and um um to bring it back to fill the w the well. And so the water was not, you know, clean. So we have to drink the water that we had, you know, because we have no choice. So we drink the dirty water, um, or you get thirsty. So to make that long story short, to bring the audience back, I was a um, so I um eventually I got sick. Um we didn't know what it was that point, that time. So one day, going back, one day, I came home from um from, you know, um, I came home from um playing with my brothers, and my dad noticed that something specif something that's such something was not right. And he saw that my left arm was swallowing, literally swallow. And he's like, wait a minute, do you were you bit for you know how parents are? Were you bit by something? Um that concerned parents. Yes, it can concern parents' face. And so my dad, because I was the oldest, she would he was so nervous, and so he decided to take me to a witch doctor where they were able to um uh give me some medicine, and it didn't help. It got worse. Um and they decided, okay, you know what? My dad decided um so uh everything got worse within three days. Everything got worse. My I was swallowing up, my face and everything. So Wow Um Can I just Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

So can I ask how old were you when that happened?

SPEAKER_06 10:40

Good good question. I was um, if I can rem remember correctly, I think I was 10 years old. Um 10 years old. Uh that part, that part of where you pretty much were older. If you're 10 years old, you're like, you know, you can do things like adult things. So I wasn't like I can um so I was about 10 years old, if I can remember correctly. It's not you know, I don't really remember that far. Uh but all I can remember is what happened to me. So so anyway, to go back to what I was saying, um so one day my dad, the the the whole house smell because the rooms are my room or the rooms are open with flies and everything, and the whole house smelled, and my dad decided, you know what, you can stay in here. You gotta go, we gotta put you outside, you know, during the day, and we can bring you not to inside. So my dad did that. And so all morning, every day I would go outside, they put me outside, you know, and there was a lot of flies. So everybody kept telling my dad, you gotta take him to the hospital or he would die. So my dad decided, and this is a miracle within itself, there was no truck, there was no cars coming to where where we were. It was cars were not, it was a shortage of cars. So my dad decided, you know, we, you know, so one day there was a all of a sudden there was a car. And my dad picked me up, ran to the car, and said to the driver, please take my son to the hospital or he would die. And the driver said, Do you have money? And my dad gave him all the money that he had. So he took me to, so they took me to the, you know, Kumasi. You know, Kamasi. They took me to Kumasi.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

And yes, so Kamasi, um uh national, I think in international studies, um, it's like um a teaching hospital. So when when I get to the teaching hospital, my dad uh they immediately asked for money. And in the country, there's no there's no insurance, you know how so there was no insurance, so they asked money up front. So my dad didn't have money uh up front. So he backed the hospital to just keep me for maybe a month, and he will bring the money. He will go and bring the money. So he they kept me there. And remember, I told you there's no money, or there's no, we were poor into, we were born into a poor family. So my dad's like, okay, I'm gonna go, I'll bring the money, so keep him here. And that day on, my dad never returned. He left and he never returned. So um he he just he left me in the hospital, and that point I was very um the next day, I I kept hope, hoping that he will return. And so a couple, so a couple years later, um, this is prior to you know me suffering through everything, but by the grace of God, by the grace of God, this is where I got into where, well, where I am. So by the grace of God, he sent me two angels, two guardian angels. Uh, one was Antimary, a nurse in a hospital, and who kept me from being depressed, who prayed, who prayed with me every day. He she was uh she was a Christian. I was not. I never know uh Christ, but he prayed with me every single day while he he he was she was working, sorry, while she was working. She she when when her shift is over, she comes over and pray with me. And then she would sit with me and she would talk with me, and so she became like my mother figure, and so she helped me through the tough times. And so I don't know who put her, yeah, I don't know who pulled her onto my life, but she did. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Yeah, let's backtrack real quick on that. Um, so to just catch us up, your dad noticed that you had your wound, right? And so he had put you out of the house because you said the wound had gotten so bad, right? Um, and that that it was, I guess it sounds like an infection. It was getting infected.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Yeah, that it was getting infected. And I just wanted to ask you about that. How did you feel? Because you said you're about 10 years old. How did you feel when that happened? Being like put out of the house and well, not being able to not being able to stay with your family. And sorry to cut you off. Um, but just not being able to stay with your family at that age. Um, you haven't done anything bad, right? Um and so just tell me how you felt at that time.

SPEAKER_06 16:02

Okay, uh at that time, uh, the way my brothers was looking at me, um, I pretty much felt like, okay, they um my even my own brothers was disowning me. They come, they come and visit me, they they come and visit me, and you know, when I was outside, they would come, they'll bring me water, and they will they they they stay within a distance because I smell so bad. And so they will stay in the distance and they will talk with me. And they'll and one time I remember when my dad, my um, my brother, one of my brothers put their hands over their nose because they don't want to smell me. And so that made me first of all embarrassed. And because they they respect me. I was like the leader, I lead them everywhere, and now I become less done, you know, just sitting on this on the corner somewhere, pretty much wasting away my life.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 17:03

And so um I felt sad and depressed as a kid. Um, and I I didn't know if I did something wrong. Um, I didn't know if I was gonna live. I didn't know what was gonna happen to me. That would the unknown was scared me. That was scared. I felt alone. I felt alone.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

Yes, yeah. And that's what I was thinking too, for a child being put out of the house, um, them not knowing why they're there, and it being punishment. You know, when you do something bad, if you get sent out of the house to sit out, it's like I don't want to deal with you anymore. If your mom tells you get out, you in trouble. So um, and that's what I was wondering at that age if you understood what was going on or why you were being sent out, but it felt like punishment is what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_06 18:01

Yes, yeah, yeah. And I felt uh and um I felt like um, you know, because some also I didn't I didn't blame them. I did not blame my my my my family for doing that because the smell was unbearable. And and so I did not, yeah, I did not um it you know, I did not have any animal animus, is that what you call uh I didn't have any any any ear ear towards them. Uh right. I understood. I understood where they came, where where they're coming from. And so I did not um they I did not have any um I you know angry or whatever towards them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Yeah. So you understood that it wasn't due to you doing anything bad or even them not loving you. You said it was just because the wound that was getting so infected and the smell of it. So the other part I just wanted to just highlight was what you said about your dad. Um, and uh I we did hear the end of that part about how he didn't come to the hospital, but um his concern for you as his firstborn, um, taking you to uh the the doctor to try to get you the help to then you said he spent all he had for you at the hospital. Uh I think for the car. Was it for the car?

SPEAKER_06 19:25

Yes, for the car, for the car, yes, for the taxi. Uh you can say a taxi or a truck, maybe a truck is much more. Um, but he spent all the money, yeah, to for the driver.

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Right, for the driver and then for the hospital. I know all about that with um family back home, the hospital bill and not having insurance um for those here in the US or just in other areas where there is health insurance, um, in other countries that are developing and in areas are developing. Um, and I just want to give context uh to the area that um Isaac, you're talking about, and uh the area that I grew up in, it's a little bit more rural and not as developed as other parts of Ghana or other parts of the world. And so having access to hospitals, health insurance, you don't always have that. But I do notice the love that your father had to try to get you help and taking you to the hospital. And I would take it as him not coming back, he doesn't have the money to pay for a month's expense.

SPEAKER_06 20:41

Exactly. And that's when if you want me to expand on that, that part where he didn't come back at the time, at the time, as a kid, I was angry at him. But he understood, I didn't understood why he didn't come back. Is it because I'm not gonna get better? Is it because there was no hope for me? Because when you have your family with you, the family, family, family is a strong tie, it's very strong. When the family is together, it's very we are strong together. So when all my family left me, it was just like I left alone fighting a battle that my dad just left.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Right?

SPEAKER_06 21:33

Yeah. So my thing is for me to fight alone, but I I like the way you put it. At the time, yes, at the time I was angry. At the time. Yes, I was depressed. Uh uh, I was um, I didn't, I I didn't think they loved me anymore. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking of the way, you know, the way that the money issue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:59

I guess you can say selfishly, that's where I was, you know.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Well, and I would say exactly what you said. As a child, you didn't know. But even me now as an adult and uh family back home going through situations, not life or death, but definitely um health issues or needing surgery and them not being able to pay medical bill um and them reaching out to me. We've been down that road uh many a time. So, but so as an adult, I can understand that. But as a child, you don't know that, hey, they don't have money, and here you gotta pay up or there's gonna be consequences. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:44

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, and and there was there was a lot of so my my situation, I like I was, yeah, I was um, I I recall one night, one, one night, I eat I I I literally, literally cried myself to sleep. And since then, every night, every night I cried myself to sleep. Those are my dark days. I call them my dark days. So I was I was just because of the disease, I lost my family. And so I did not at the time, I was so angry at my family, and I did not know why they left and why they did what they did. So I cried so much that I didn't have any tea life. I didn't have any to your left.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Wow, okay. Well, let's take it back to well, up to you being at the hospital. So you're there and you said your dad left and he never came back. Um, just to pick up from that, did you ever see your dad again at the hospital? He never came back at all, right? Or did he?

SPEAKER_06 23:59

Um so one day I was I was hoping he would come back. You know, a month later, a mile or two months later. So one day he he he returned, but not with the money.

unknown 24:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 24:16

He returned, but not with the money. So what he did, what he said about to the hospital when he came back with other money, he also he pleaded that you know what, I'm just gonna. So he came with my other brother. He came with my one brother, he came with. And so I said to them, I was so happy to see my dad and my other brother. I I was I was elated. I was like, it was a Christmas morning, uh, uh just to see him, to see his face, and to see him alive, because I didn't know what happened. So to reassure to reassure me that he's alive and well, and my family is well and alive and well, I was happy. So yeah, my so anyway, when they came, when they came to visit me the first time, I mean second time, sorry, second time, my um my my brother, my second older brother, and I said, Oh, um, where's where's my other brother? My other, my other one, the other brother, you know?

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:21

And my my um my immediately my other brother looked at my dad. He just looked at my dad in the face, and I was like, oh, what's going on? So they look each other, and they sat down beside my dad, and they put their arm, I remember clearly, they put their arm around me and says to me, he passed away. Um he did not, he did not make it. And I knew that was gonna happen because he's always sick. He's always sick. He never he since he was born, he's always sick. His stomach was larger than the rest of his body.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Oh, so okay.

SPEAKER_06 26:07

I don't know what you call that. Um there's a there's a word for that. So his stomach was larger than the rest of his body. His body was um like a Holocaust survival.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

A survival, survival, surviving.

SPEAKER_06 26:22

So he, I guess he can say my nourishment. I don't know. So he died, and so at that point I I started to break down crying because he was my youngest brother. I never got a chance to say goodbye. Um, yeah, and and so they just came to give me the news. That's what it did. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

So after he dropped you off at the hospital, you never saw him again. All you got was the news that he had passed.

SPEAKER_06 26:59

Yes, okay. My younger brother, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah, came and told you. Okay, yeah, and that's really, really challenging. And I don't know what that was, but yeah, could have been a growth, anything. And so he was already sick, so you kind of knew that he might pass away. So it didn't surprise you too much because he was sick. Always, yeah. Yeah, okay. Was your mom in the picture?

SPEAKER_06 27:25

Yeah, I have a mother. I have I have a mom. Uh he was always, she's always a stay-at-home mom. Uh that part of the world, uh, that part of the world. Um, always women always taking care of the children. So yeah, she she's always in the you know, cooking and cleaning, just a stay-at-home mom. Uh she was doing all that stuff. And so, um, and so yeah, my mom was in the picture. Uh, but he she's always busy doing other things.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 28:00

Um my dad was the main person who we always turn to if we need like medic med medic uh a care. Uh if we if we help we we hurt our foot when we are walking, because we don't have shoes. We don't have uh you know good shoes. So we always have the flip-flops, the flip-flops. So if we you know step our feet or something like that, we we hurt ourselves. My dad's always the one that we turn to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

Yeah. People don't know uh uh how how good they have it. Um in in more rural parts, and I just want to emphasize rural parts because um in Ghana, there's also developed areas across it looks like New York, even more traffic, I would say. Um, but in the more rural areas that are a little less developed, um, and then in parts that um maybe facing poverty, um, one of the things common is like not having shoes, and yes.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

One type of the set. Right, yeah, especially for the children. Yeah, yeah. So uh going back to the flip-flop situation. One time I was running. You probably know this. One time I'm running and the flip-flop, the nose popped up. Yeah, right up. So what I did is we sewed it together, we we tied it, we we pull it in and we tie it together. We tie it with some string so it doesn't pull up out of it. I think you know what I mean. Like the nose, the thing comes up. Yeah, so we always have to fix it and um yeah, we just keep going. That's all.

SPEAKER_04 29:39

And be creative. Be creative.

SPEAKER_06 29:41

Yes, we always have to be creative and we're at that part of the world. It's all about survival, it's all about survival where I live. Yeah, so survive, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

But the nice thing is that you have family, so you're facing poverty, but you have your family and community and very important.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Very clear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:01

Yeah. That's the beauty of that. And we all work together.

SPEAKER_06 30:04

And we all work together. Yeah. We all work together as a family. Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't miss the Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

All right. So I wanted to then go to what happens next after that. Your brothers have given you the news, and you went into a little bit about the nurses who were taking care of you at the hospital?

SPEAKER_06 30:31

Conference. Teaching hospital.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

Teaching hospital, okay. So tell me about the uh what happened next. You've heard the news. You're still at the hospital and you're staying there. What happens next? What happens with your arm?

SPEAKER_06 30:54

Um so um where they started with um when my dad came back, he again to give me the news. He didn't have the money. So he he pleaded with the the hospital again to give me a second chance, another chance. So he they said, okay, we give you another uh month. So they so when he left, they decided to uh to start cleaning the wounds, uh, trying to get rid of the infection. So they did a lot of skin draft, a lot of skin graft. So they take so you know how skin grafts work. They take a skin from other and they pull on they put it on the um the infection arm, trying to stop it. But the skin craft never takes. It never takes. It's always getting infected. So you um so they keep doing that. So I have a body where everywhere they cut, um I still have a skin, I still have um uh scar to prove it. They cut everywhere trying to try to repair it, trying to repair the infection. And every time it never takes. So so my so anyway, um while I was in the hospital dealing with the doctors and everything, in the meantime, um I did not know the Lord or anything like that. I was born in a Muslim as a Muslim, and so I didn't know anything about God. So in the meantime, I have this nurse always stop by. Uh, you know, every morning she would stop by and say hi to me. And and she would say, and then before she leaves, she says a prayer for me. And then I didn't know what she's talking about because I don't know anything about prayer. Only closest I got to see church is when Sunday morning Christians get to get to go to church. You know, every morning I see Christian go to church, and that's it. But I see this lady always come to me and say, hi. So he always she's always prayed for my arm, pray that my arm heals and things like that. But yeah, the doctors were taking care of um the infection and giving medication. Um and and not nothing helped, never nothing works. Nothing seemed to be working. So they kept trying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

Yeah, and that must have been very discouraging um when it's not getting better, even getting uh regular medical attention. Um what happens after that? Um, so you've got the nurse praying for you, and you refer to her as one of your angels that had come and they're working on these wounds, they're trying to do the skin grafting, nothing is taking. So what comes next after that?

SPEAKER_06 33:58

So this it's just this rewind to a couple of years later. It's about I've been in the hospital at this point. Uh the nurses come in, uh, you know, she's she she kept coming coming to my, you know, we she became to know uh I became she became um, she's like a mother to me every time, every time she comes. She brings me clothes, she brings me uh things, um, you know, uh food and everything because I've been in the hospital so long that the hospital food was getting tiresome. So this is about maybe seven, five years from now, five five years now, since I haven't seen. So I was there, uh, I got to know all the doctors, I got to know all the nurses. I pretty much became like the resident, you know, in that hospital. So what happened next is pretty much a miracle. So they kept doing this skin graft, they keep bringing doctors from America. Um, there was the one doctor who came from America, did another skin graft, and that took for a little bit. It took. Uh, I don't know what he did, but he it took for a little bit, and and then it started to peel again. A couple of bucks later, it was starting to it started to peel again. And at this point, the doctors didn't know what to do. And so they decided, you know what? We we just we ran out of options here. And you are growing up, you're like 12 years old now, 13 years old now, and you're getting older for this, you know, for this hospital. So to make a long story, I don't want to keep dragging on. So they decided, okay, you know what? We're gonna have to do something with you. We don't know what to do. So um here comes my second angel. Um and you know who I'm gonna so the angel steps in. Her name is Rebecca.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 36:02

Um I don't know if you want me to continue with that, but Rebecca came to the picture. Not it was by mistake. He came looking for another girl, you know, a little baby girl. And unfortunately, the lady the lady girl unfortunately passed away.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

Okay and so this is where so I don't know if you yeah, so um I'm gonna just uh ask you to give a little background on who Rebecca is. So she's coming and she's looking for a um little girl who's passed away.

SPEAKER_06 36:44

Yes. So so Rebecca is um a missionary who's already lived in Ghana, West Africa, who's already lived there for a couple of years. It's Rebecca and Gary, her husband. They work in um uh in they work in um the royal part of Ghana. Uh uh in Sutta or Um with with um Mary, not Mary, oh my goodness, I'm lost, I'm losing people's name here. Um anyway, she worked in in um Ankhasi, Ankarsi, Ankasi, for with her and her husband for many, many years. And she decided, anyway, so what they do is they build hospitals or they they build homes and they have uh hospitals and also do surgeries in the villages. And so they like the doctors with no borders, but they they're not like that. But Rebecca loves children, so to for our for our heard. So she came to look for a little girl. And so when she came there, the little girl has already passed, unfortunately. And and so and so I saw this lady come towards my dad and with Auntie Mary. And so Auntie Mary has filled her in with my condition, with my my problem. And Auntie Mary, this is another miracle, Auntie Mary's, and so she decided I didn't speak English then, so she decided to translate for me. And so she was translating from English to my language, and and so so she says to Auntie Mary, um, do you mind if I take pictures, you know, of the of the wolves? So she was she has this shock face, she was shocked what she was seeing. So she was taking pictures of my legs, taking pictures of my uh this point, there was a leg, my leg was also open wounds this point. And so she took pictures of my my legs and my my arm. I still have the pictures to uh today. I still have it. And so she she decided to take pictures of it, and and she says to me, you know, I want to help you. I'm gonna take, I'm trying to, I'm gonna help you. Um I came for a little girl, but unfortunately she already passed. But Auntie Mary told me about your pro uh with your condition, and I'm gonna try. Normally I take little girls to America, but you're a little old, but I'm gonna try and see if I can help. So she called, yeah. So she called the state, she called the state, um, and they decided, um, yeah, let's let's um let's help them. So the problem I'm gonna have was now they're gonna deal with Visa. So that's why, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

All right, so I wanted to then ask, how did it feel to hear someone say that they wanted to help you?

SPEAKER_06 40:10

Um it felt like it was surreal. It was surreal because I never have a stranger approach me and say, I'm gonna help you, with such kindness of her voice. And that made me feel uh I that made me feel like I can trust her and and I could trust that she she mean what she said because when somebody said that, you know, if anybody else said that, you probably would not believe it. I just didn't believe it at first that she'd be able to help me. But she anyway, so she's like, I'm gonna help you. And immediately I felt this happiness in my happiness in me. Um the feeling that I I felt is like it's so hard to describe that finally somebody is reaching out to help me. Even though I have a Tim Mary, even though I have a Tim Mary with me on my side the whole time helping me, I finally have maybe hope. Maybe it's a there's a hope.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 41:23

That I'll be able to get some help, the much needed help. And I also heard America. I heard about America. And and that I can get the the the medication or I can get the medical uh accentuation or medical help that I can. Yeah. So I was happy. The the happiness was, you know, it was there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

Yeah. So she says she's gonna help you. What does she do to help you?

SPEAKER_06 42:00

Okay. So that's uh so anyway, so she first she told me that she's gonna need uh uh a visa, which is uh that's the first thing is uh like a visiting or medical visa or whatever, you know. Um so um Auntie Mary, so the only problem was she would need money to pay for the um to pay for the visa. So my my so Auntie Mary raised her hand and said, I will pay for the visa. So Auntie Mary opened her wallet, she went, she quickly went and and um and purchased, and not purchased, but to get the visa. And all was left was um, you know, uh trying to see trying to say that um one thing about people like Auntie Mary, you cannot thank him enough. You cannot say thank you. All you can say was all I say was to her, I look at her and said to her, because of her, I was able to come here to get the help that I much needed. Because of her, I was able to get a visa that I needed because that part of the world, again, people do not have this number money that's growing trees. Everybody is fighting, everybody is fighting for survival, and she has family also to feed, but she decided to open up her wallet to buy the visa to help me, and with that, I was thankful.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

Yeah, and so she I can definitely see why you described her as an angel. I just want to ask, is she was she Ghanaian? Yes, she was Ghanaian, okay. So, yeah, when you were talking about her family and having to feed them also, I was like, okay, so she's one of our one of our locals. Okay, so that's incredible, yeah. Even knowing that and knowing that area, um, and like you just said, how hard it is to come by money um in some of those parts um of Ghana, for her to do that was so selfless. Um and so just for her, she encouraged you while you were by yourself at the hospital without your parents there praying for you, and then just when you needed that help, she stepped up at the most important part. Um and before you had talked to me about those people being kind of like lifelines to you. Um you had shared this part of your story. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_06 44:56

Well, those two because when I was describing lifeline, it's because my the ability of like for me not to be so depressed and being so in the dark, and I feel like I was uh pretty much I was in the road, and I was in the road somewhere, I feel like I was in the street somewhere where nobody cares. Yeah. Where everybody just passed you by, but those two stop and say to and say, you know what, everybody deserves love. And those two stop and say, you know, God sent them. It is nothing happened for out of vacuum, nothing happened, nothing happened for everything happened for a reason. And I believe to this day, God sent those two women to say, pick him up, pick him up, and know that he can get a lifeline from me. And the lifeline came from God, and he had that lifeline, and he gave me the lifeline that I know that it came from those two women, but God gave them those lifelines. First, to say, I'm gonna bring you to America to get you some much needed help. And that the biggest lifeline that threw me, that Rebecca threw me, was that I need to give you the lifeline that you much needed, much needed. We prayed, I prayed for help, but I didn't I didn't think I didn't think the answer was gonna be that. It shocked me, you know. I was shocked to see that people who threw me their lifeline.

SPEAKER_04 46:50

Yes, yeah, and that's what sometimes makes people miss when God is sending help. Um, I don't know if you've heard that story about the man who um his ship is sinking, and um he asks God to help him, and I I forget how it goes, but like somebody comes by, maybe on a ski jet or something and says, Hey, or like a fish swims by, and each time he like didn't take it and he passes away and he says, Hey, I was crying for you to help me. And I forget exactly how that goes, but he was crying, I was asking you guys to help me, but you didn't help me. And he said, I did help you. Remember, I sent that ship that was coming that way, and this, that, and but you were not expecting it in that way, and you didn't accept that help. Um, so that was an unexpected place where you have a missionary from the United States, a woman who comes and shows up, you know, in Ghana not knowing your language fluently or culture, just outside of where you're from is who God uses to help you. Um, and so sometimes when we're praying, sometimes we miss it because God's like, here's your answer. It's just not gonna come in the way that you may expect or be used to, you know, she came from the outside. Um she's gotten the money uh for your visa, and so when do you arrive in Ghana or well in the United States? What happens next to getting you to the United States and getting you the uh the treatment uh and medication that is possible for you here?

SPEAKER_06 48:45

Great question. So um, so backing up, so the day, the night that I was a bit um able, because everything was set to go, the visa was set, everything. So that night I could not sleep with the excitement. I could not sleep that night. I was so excited. You know how if when you win something or when you when you expect something nice, you like like it feel to me, it felt like it felt like um I was able to, it's like the weight lifted off my shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:24

So I felt I felt I felt light. It felt like light to me, and I was so happy for the next morning to arrive. So the next morning, uh it was about maybe noontime before I leave the hospital, like the seven years, ten years that I was in there. The seven years, um my the my family, my my hospital family, they all got together and they all and they they brought so what happened was um my name, my real name was not gonna fit on the passport. This is why I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. My little name, my name was not going to fit on the passport. Uh yeah, sorry, the visa. So my real name was Kofi Amidu Sisal. That's how you know put it on there. So they said to me, we need to have you pick a name. And so they gave me they gave me the Bible, and I went through, I went through the Bible, and Isaac came to mind.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 50:37

And I said to them, uh and they said, I never heard of the name Isaac before, but I like the the sound of Isaac. And they said to me, Do you know what then what the meaning of Isaac means? And I said, No. And they say it means laughter. And so and so that point on, I the name Isaac, I picked it for myself, and that's the way it became Isaac.

SPEAKER_04 51:05

So anyway, the the the So I did want to ask, so I didn't know that that you had picked your name, and that uh, you know, sometimes people do that coming to the United States, their name is too hard to pronounce, or foreigners may not be able to read it, and so just part of being able to assimilate, um, they may be given a new name. Um, so you chose your name uh from the from the Bible, you said?

SPEAKER_06 51:42

Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

Okay. And how was that for you? Were you uh so your name is what you respond to? It's what you're given at birth, and you get attached to it and know it, especially if you love your name. What was that running through your head when they said you need a new name? Were you on board? Um, was there any type of attachment or loss with that? Or did you know what was going through your mind with that?

SPEAKER_06 52:14

Uh, what was going through my mind is exactly what you said. It's like, okay, I have my name for all my life. I was born with that.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:21

Uh my parents gave me my name. It was so special to my parents. So it felt like me letting my name go, me letting that go, it felt like I was losing part of myself, my part of the heritage, um, part of what I was born with. Because in my culture, name means everything. Name is like strong, yeah. So I felt like I was losing part of myself. But at the same time, I was going into a new era, I was going to a new beginning.

unknown 52:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:00

I saw that as a beginning, you know, of something special.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

Yeah. All right. So you choose the name Isaac, which means laughter, um, which is something I didn't know. But I'm gonna say maybe it's also showing where you were going next. Maybe that time of grief was coming to an end. And um, maybe God was gonna put laughter in your mouth. But I like that I love to laugh, and um you're also very joyful and optimistic. And so I think that name sits with you well. And I even like it all the more because you chose it. Um, and it was the name that resonated within your spirit, which makes it special, which makes it your own, where it wasn't something that they said, okay, we need a shorter name that we can put on this. And uh here, you know. So I love that you chose it. Um, it it makes it your own. It makes it your own name for your new journey coming. You picked your name, you're getting ready to go. One other thing, how did it feel saying goodbye to your family? You've been in the hospital most of your childhood. Like you said, they're your family. What was it like to say bye to them? Um, but yeah, what was it like? You know, was it, I guess maybe bittersweet?

SPEAKER_06 54:30

It was it was bittersweet. Um I was I was so it was sad. We we all we were crying, but especially Auntie Mary, especially Auntie Mary was crying and with with with with happiness for me.

SPEAKER_03 54:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:48

She was crying with happiness. We were crying with happiness. And and they threw they threw a party for me, and we all hug each other. And um, and and I didn't know about the party because it surprised me with it. So they walked me into this big room because I never had a in all my life, I never had a surprise party before, all my life, since I was born. Um we don't celebrate, we don't celebrate birthdays. So um, so I never uh have a surprise party before. So when they walked me into this big room with all the nurses who took her took care of me and the doctors, uh everything was so it was so surreal. It was surreal. I was happy, everybody was happy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:43

So that was the chapter, the other chapter of my life. You know, the closing the chapter of my life.

SPEAKER_04 55:52

All right. So you said goodbye to your family that you've had at the hospital, and now what happens next?

SPEAKER_06 56:02

So um we arrive in Accra, as you know, as you know. Um it was a long ride, but you know, it was happiness. So we arrived in Accra. Um, I saw this big thing. It's a plane. I never, you know, we see a plane all the time on the on the on the air, but it's always small, but I've never seen that close one. So I got in the plane. Immediately I got so scared because it was moving, and I get so scared. And Rebecca has to grab my hand. She has to grab my hand to make sure I wasn't, you know, um, so I wasn't nervous or anything. So she grabbed my hand, and I was fine. And so we arrive in London, and we have to, you know, switch the plane, yeah, switch other plane um from London, and then I think we arrive in the United States. Um, I remember it was in November, it was it was the coldest, the coldest um you know November. Uh coming from Africa to um coming from Africa to um America was the coldest uh uh time and I never felt that kind of cold in my life. So somebody came, somebody um likely one of the family members, told him to bring a blanket. So they agreed us in the airport and they brought a blanket and they put a blanket around me and to feel warm. So they told them everything. So they knew I was gonna get cold. So they uh so we went, you know, so that was that was yeah. It was nice.

SPEAKER_04 57:43

And I feel like I feel like every like uh African child, well, anybody coming from a warm place, uh mostly uh hotter climate goes through that wave of winter, that first impact. I think there's gotta be like a memoir or a book that we all just record our first winter, and it's like your your little dress that you got, your little sundress, or your little skirt, yeah, our little shorts, nope. And then you just get hit with like, okay, this is coldness. You know, I coldness to me was when you wake up in the morning, right? Like first thing in the morning, and it's cool out. That was like cold. No, it wasn't cold. It's like 65, but to us that's that's freezing. And then so it's real cold of 2015 degrees when the weather's in the teens, it's yeah, that that's a whole nother level of trauma that should be explored and oh yeah, looked into.

SPEAKER_06 58:52

Oh yeah, yeah, I agree with that a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_04 58:55

Yeah, yeah. So they thought of you, they brought you blankets and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 59:02

Thank God, yes.

SPEAKER_04 59:03

Yeah, did you get a coat, anything like that, just getting used to the climate?

SPEAKER_06 59:10

Yes, uh, it was it took a little bit to get used to um the coldness. But um uh obvious, unfortunately, they I mean, fortunately they brought a coat, they brought a um uh everything for me to wear, something heavy for me to wear, so I don't get too cold. Yeah, that was very nice being prepared. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:34

So all right, so you've landed in the US, you're getting adjusted to the weather and everything. What happens now with the move to help you um with your health condition? Um, so you said there was possible medication that they could offer, and she taken pictures, uh, I guess for them to review. Um so what happened with getting you the medical care?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:00

that you needed so um to s to go back uh to so this is my second time being america second time so this the so i'm deal I'm just talking about the second time now the first time was different from the second time so the second time I landed if you want we cut it second time I landed in Shannon's in Chicago and and so we decided to that's when I got a coded on okay so just to clarify you you were telling us of the second time when you left and said bye to everybody at the hospital um what was the first time that you'd come and what was it for? Just briefly so okay briefly first time was to come in and to clean up the wounds and everything that was the first time here and that didn't work.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:05

So my visa expired and I had to return to Africa so I got sick again and Rebecca has to make another arrangement to bring me here okay okay so she had taken you to the US and they just cleaned the wounds and sent you back. Yes and your condition got worse exactly yes okay and after that you came back and that's where we're picking up the second time that you're now back yes okay all right all right well continue from there so what happens next now you're here for um and I'm looking like more permanent treatment not just a cleaning because that's not enough so what did they decide to do moving forward?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:59

So I arrive in Sharon's hospital in Chicago and when I arrived there they quickly noticed the hand was not savable. It cannot be you know safe. So they they didn't go through all the cleaning everything they just noticed it's too bad to save it. So they say to me to make to make a decision either get rid of the hand or the arm or to go back home and uh they they guarantee me that I'm not gonna survive from it um because the infection is going to travel it's gonna it's gonna wind up killing me.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:41

So you're told that you might uh either die from it if you don't get it removed or there's possibility that you can live if they remove it.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:53

And so what's going through your head with this well um first of all my left arm that it does work. I can you know use it it functions but the problem is it's just it's just too swelling and it's too it's not workable. It's not it would you know the fashion is what they worry about. So they decided you know what um so they didn't give me a pretty much I didn't have a choice at the same time I felt like I'm gonna lose part of me the the the the the part of the body that I was born with all my life I've been you know using it all my life all of a sudden I'm gonna lose it and so I felt you know I felt scared and I didn't know how how is I'm gonna work you know but then they told me there's a good news they said there's a good news there's uh plasthetic it's called we're gonna give you a plastic hand and that made my decision easier well I didn't have a choice but that made it easier for me to make the decision when they told me about prosthetic yeah yeah so knowing that you would have a way to function and live in life right is what one of the reasons that helps you to make that really difficult decision.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:22

I mean that's something I can sympathize with but I can't really empathize um to be in that situation where it's like to live I gotta lose my arm or I gotta go you know um and so what a tough tough place to be in you know um and to make that kind of decision but what gave you hope you said was knowing that they could give you a prosthetic arm that would be able to help you to go around yeah what so so they oh sorry to carry um so anyway so they came over they came in and brought a plastic they actually brought brought a prosthetic hand to the hospital to show me what it looks like before they they were that they were so they were very very uh kind the way this the the way they made it my decision easier they brought a plastic hand to the hospital uh into my room to for me to see what it looks like and they're like they're like this would help you but the alternative is worse.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:37

So that made my decision that made my decision much easier for me to make although I have no choice.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:46

It's like life gives you no choice and so I had to make it yeah either die or yeah so yeah one of those situations where exactly what you said you have to really choose to live and even if you're gonna live with a um a challenge a physical challenge now that you're gonna face for the rest of your life it's better to live than to not live at all I think it was just so compassionate that they brought you an arm to show you can I ask about how old were you at that time?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:27

I was uh at this time I was 14 years old.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:30

Oh no 15 sorry 15 years old wow yeah being 15 years old and having to make a permanent life decision like that you know most 15 year olds teenagers don't have to face that type of um I I don't even want to know how to say but such a serious and um life impacting decision like that. And so I just want to commend you for your bravery and then I just appreciate the sensitivity of the hospital giving you a hope like this may happen but there's a solution to help you and then going above and beyond to show you what the arm is like and what it will look like it just prepares your mind for what's to come so it lessens the shock of it all.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:24

Yeah and you're absolutely right psychologically it helped me psychologically with my with and also the person who also helped me get through this decision making which she cannot make it for me is Rebecca right next she was right next to me she was right next to me the whole time because I couldn't speak English and she speaks a little bit of my language so they were translating um she was translating the best she can but they also have it a translator also in the hospital but they don't speak um they they don't have like a translator like a Spanish you know my language they don't have my language like a translator you know it's hard to get by so it's hard to get my kind of translation. So Becca was right there trying to do her best that she can to translate what they're saying to me to make it so when they show me the visual the visual helped me a lot which is the visual that made me easier for me to say yes not my head go ahead yeah so give me the visual to say oh this is what it meant this is what it means yeah so that's what it brought a hand because I couldn't understand what they were saying.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:47

So they brought a hand yeah yeah well I love that too because they understood the language barrier so even it with that helping of making sure you understood what they meant by a prosthetic arm um and them not have the language to communicate with you in your language um so yeah so help with the language barrier to understand what they're talking about and then like you said psychologically helping you to prepare your mind for okay there is hope on this other side and there's a way for me to function through life with that okay so another you're another another lifeline you know another lifeline that I was thrown was them bringing the hand to show me to prepare myself psychologically like you said yeah yeah so you see the prosthetic arm as a lifeline yes yeah yeah helping you through not uh obviously not having your arm so another lifeline that got through to you was the prosthetic arm. Okay. Yeah and that's the you know the blessing of medical sciences um and we know you know how expensive it is to go to medical school and how many years they have to study and just all the work that they do but every little bit counts towards research and then they see the long-term effects later in just individual people like you or me for whatever medication we need or even just inventions like you know having prosthetic arms and things like that. And so that's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:51

All right so what helps you to finally make your decision or what moment comes where you give them the okay for them to do the amputation okay after they show me the the prosthetic hand that made it easier so they went out of the room and just me and Rebecca and we sat down she looked at me and she told me in my language this is the best uh option and you know and it's your decision but this is the best option um they can save the hand and so this is the best option and I just I just tear it up I I I I cry because I know I'm gonna lose part of me but at the same time but at the same time the alternative was not good. So I decided you know what with her by my side Rebecca and God everything would be okay. So I gave the go ahead I gave them the go ahead that point.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:01

Yeah yeah and it's like another bittersweet moment right it was like um and that's what I find in life um the hardest decisions we have to make there's always a something pulling us back to it you were saying goodbye to those people um to all your nurses at the hospital who are taking care of you but if you didn't leave that would be the rest of your life you would just be in the hospital um you know unless they finally eventually said you've got to go um there wasn't much of a future and you said with all their cleanings and trying to engraft skin nothing was working and you were getting worse. Um so although it was hard to say goodbye um leaving gave you like you said hope okay now we can do something else and see if that works and so same now you're put in another situation where you've got to say goodbye to your arm but keeping your arm it's now gotten so bad you know they're like okay we gotta take it to a next level um it's just gotta go and it's so hard to say goodbye but at the end of where we let go of things it's like that's where the healing can begin. Whether it's physical or emotional where we gotta let go of things that are um hurting us you know yeah so a really really brave decision a really hard decision as you said it was a part of you so you've made that difficult decision um with the support and just the advising of Rebecca um and so what happens next well since what happened next since I talked to my guardian angel that's why I call her um the next morning she she she came to the hospital the next morning and she made sure that everything was good she made sure that I wasn't nervous she made sure she was she made sure everything is good uh with the surgery and so she became like a a short term like a mother to me so she was right there on my side going in and she made sure that I wasn't scared because it was a new environment it was a new environment I didn't know anybody there only person I knew was Rebecca you know I didn't know anybody there so she made sure that I was I can see her face before I go inside the surgery so she she says to me one thing she says to me before I went in she says to me everything will be okay when you wake up I'll be here I'll be here waiting for you and that assurance that assurance is like I'm gonna wake up to see somebody waiting for me I'm gonna wake up to see her you know so um so anyway um my uh so anyway I woke up right and the doctor told me ahead of time she says to me you are gonna feel that the hand is there it's called a phantom pain you're gonna try to you're gonna try to reach for the phantom pain if you anybody who are there who knows phantom pain you feel like your arm is still there wow and so you're gonna try to reach for it and trying to pull it or gonna try to rob it it's not there.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:44

Wow so they're gonna warn me not to be not to you know pull the stitches because they think that it's still there. Oh okay so I woke up with the pain like somebody is stabbing me with a few like knives it's like somebody stabbed me with knives and also pouring um this is the pain like somebody stabbing with the knives and pouring uh hot sauce on top of the same time. So I was in this I was in so much pain they had to give me morphine. I had to be under morphine so I keep using the morphine and they kept warning me not to keep using the morphine because it's a problem with that it's a side effect with the morphine also but I was in so much pain I kept using so anyway so I woke up like I said I woke up with the pain. Yeah it was it was sad.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:41

Yeah I I was gonna ask you about how you felt but before that you were talking about the phantom pain now is that where your brain now registers or is not I guess it hasn't registered your brain still thinks the arm is there yeah psychologically yes like it's still sending it's trying to send signals and it's like wait you know yes yeah it okay yeah okay yeah yeah it's like um it's like you reach like you send a signal and you reach a roadblock it and you you you can't send any more signal it you it's blocked you know something is blocked it's blocking it so you feel like your arm is still there because you psychologically your mind is like saying oh it's still there and then they're the it's still trying to fire it and it's not happening. Wow yeah I want to know about like how long does that last for where your brain registers that it's not there and it's not still sending signal where like they said don't pull at it don't pull the stitches don't reach and you gotta have to kind of like fight that um because your brain is you know confused too it's waking up too to wait what did you do?

SPEAKER_06 1:18:05

Mm-hmm oh yeah so when I woke up and when I cast anyway so it didn't take long to answer your question. It doesn't take a long time to realize it because when you open your eyes or when you are in a hospital room or wake up in pain you lift your hand up obviously and it's not there. That's the first time um that's the first time it's like you losing a valuable thing. Wow and hug me I was crying because the first time in my life I lost a part of my a part of me you know yeah so I uh um she started to hug me because I left a hand up it wasn't there even though I knew that was that was even though I knew that was the case that was happening but it didn't make it didn't register until I woke up if we if you don't understand what I'm saying if you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:04

Yeah yeah I I I understand what you're saying where it became real yeah yeah okay so you're woken up you're upset and you said you feel like you've lost a part of you and I think that's the best way to to say it because it's it's your body um and a part of it is missing. Um and I'm just so grateful uh for Rebecca um and Rebecca was um just instrumental in so many people's lives also um just in my life um but just her presence to just encourage you and comfort you I love that she gave you uh encouragement before your surgery um I think that's what every child needs they just need some type of explanation and comfort and that I'm just so happy just even hearing that story um you know I know your testimony but just thinking of a child going through that any person an adult going through that like oh that's so difficult but that she was there to comfort you and that you weren't alone um yeah so yeah uh yeah she her when she looked at me in my face when she looked at me in my eyes the eyes is what they just look at me in the eyes and said everything will be okay everything will be okay God is on your side this is what she said God is on your side and you we would get through we would get through this together and that is what what got what got me it it got yeah it kept me going through the surgery yeah yeah when you have someone there who has hope and who is um not shaken so it can give you freedom to be nervous and this and that but they're like no this is fine you're gonna be great it's gonna work out um they're that like solid rock yeah she was optimistic yeah yeah yeah definitely she was she was optimistic in the situation which gave you hope yeah yeah yeah powerful powerful so can you tell me what's uh happening next with that so you've lost your arm and she's comforting you and you've said that you're going to get a prosthetic arm um so let's get into that what happens to just adjusting without the arm and what's gonna happen with you now that you're here in the US okay so um number one I was so they brought me in the hand they brought me after the surgery after the surgery everything everything started to heal up very well yeah and and they decided okay it's time for us to do a physical therapy go to physical therapy and to learn how to use the plastic hand because it's a new this is a new thing now this is new yeah it's not like you're ready so you have to learn how to use it so they sent me to physical therapy for me to get into the um the process of using my new found arm yeah so it's like you have to get adjust or get adapt it adapt to it so every day I go to physical therapy every day and they will they will say to me open close open close so every time they say open I have to think I have to think in my mind open mean squeeze your back muscle to open the hand and close mean oh flex your front muscle to close the hand and to grab something so the I had to practice that I have to practice open close.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:24

So this is what I was doing in physical therapy every day they're teaching me how to do that. Yeah and and the and the language barrier was tough because I had to they had to like do visual you know they had to like do visual and Rebecca was there but they had to do visual and how they meant for me to open you know close open you know so I learned the English just a little I learned the English just I learned the word open so many times open close so many times that I learned the English from just that so I know open close is so um so I picked that up that that that little open closes that little word from them yeah from that so um I guess you can say that in you know that that was a good thing. So they were so patient with me in Shriner's hospital.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:18

Yeah. Okay so you're at Shriner's hospital yes and you said that um before so they're going to the physical therapy because now you've got to learn how to use your arm it's it's starting all over again because it's a whole new way and then you also have the language barrier and so I'm just picturing the the the um I guess the physical therapist trying to explain to you and like you said English was not your first language um but you said Rebecca was there with you to assist yes to assist with the uh because she comes visit um yeah you know she lives she in Chicago she doesn't have any family in Chicago so she flies in in and out but not all the time so this is why the and then with the money and flying from Maryland which she's from to Chicago it's not cheap.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:17

So she has to do that and um and she never forgot me. She always she came when she can to the hospital pretty much became like I have to get to know the hospital folks and so I you know so she kept they kept showing me visuals.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:36

So when Rebecca is not there they bring out the visuals for me to learn learn the um how to use the hand yeah yeah so you're learning how to use your hand and you're also picking up the language so it's not just the the physical learning um how to use the prosthetic arm but it's also the language barrier and challenge that came with it yes also so but you so so so what up one thing so when I was when I was in the hospital because of the language barrier they're trying to you know help me with that by bringing in another person who like always teaching me multiple um like uh alphabet like how to say A B C.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:30

So I was there they were bringing in people bring in a lady uh Carrie Lucas her name was every Sunday this woman would come to my my bed my hospital this is the first time introduced this character she was so kind and she's another lifeline she came in and she was a hospital and restrator and she came in and she would bring um me books she brings me books and it's about alphabet like uh A B C's so I have to like always learn the A B seeds and anyway so the hospital was just it was just a consent that's what I'm I want to say they were just consent. You know that that's what it is. Everybody's everybody was so nice to me. So I was learning English while I was there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:20

Oh very nice yeah so you're picking it up from them teaching you like you said learning the word open and that's a lot of language you're just picking up orally from what you hear um but then you were also getting some of the literacy through the books. So I love that they were introducing books to just help you also in the language. Yes um so you're at the hospital and you're adjusting to not having your arm what was that like because you talked in the beginning about being at Shriner's hospital and feeling um depression because of your situation but seeing how the children their triumph through um their challenges kind of motivated inspired you so can we get uh can you tell us about um what it felt like being without your arm and just the role that the children at the hospital had and kind of getting you out of that state? So with the depression um I didn't know uh even though I lost my arm all I can ask as an as a young adult um I all I can ask was now what right yeah what if uh when I go back now it when when I go back you know what kind of plan did Rebecca have for me um when I go back to Ghana you know so I didn't know what was gonna happen next so um every every day in that in that hospital show notes hospital we we get together and we play basketball with the um mix of special needs and non people you know regular people um and we and they all in a wheelchair some of them are wheelchairs some people are can get up some people can and so to make them happy we all sit in a wheelchair and we play basketball with them so we play basketball with them because we we we can walk but we want we want to make them we want to make them feel good so we all sit in a wheelchair and then we play basketball with them which was amazing yeah I love that um that yeah that's like oh my goodness my favorite just hearing that the other children those who um could walk sat in a wheelchair to just make it even and just being able to play um but also it just shows compassion for where they're at and it just shows friendship like we're all friends and we all have different challenges so wherever you can uh even better meeting in the middle wherever you can meet that person in the middle um so that you can have a relationship and have fun I love that that to me is like friendship you know um and in any relationship somebody's always gonna be lacking something you know we're not our perfected self um so whether it's materially physically uh mental and emotional um there may be whatever it is that they may need help or assistance with and so loving is kind of just meeting that person where they're at so that you can have a relationship with them.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:56

And so I think it's just so beautiful like like children it's just like that there's just love in their heart you know um that they just naturally like oh you have that let's all play in wheelchair yeah I can just think it is so cool and having fun but they're actually really something yeah um so um anyway so sit in a wheelchair and we we have so much fun like I said and we bump you know we always bump in the wheelchair bumping each other you know so you see the laughing and and um because we're trying to get to the goal we're trying to get to the basketball um we're trying to get to this so we can score so we all run you know people just we wheel the wheelchair and we throw the basketball sometimes the staff even join us even the staff throwing us sometimes oh so it makes it real good yeah it was funny it was fun so tell me now how the children at the hospital helped you um so you alluded to it um in the beginning of the podcast with in the beginning of our conversation so you alluded to it in the beginning of our conversation with the um with what motivated you to work with those who have needs or medical needs because of being around those children um so can you speak on to what you learned from them what you learned from those uh from the children from the different challenges they were facing and again how it impacted you in your journey so how that impact impacted me was um interesting because as I watched them I watched my my situation because I felt sorry for myself the longest time I always feel sorry for myself um I'm always saying uh me oh me look at me you know I'm you know I'm I I kept feeling sorry for myself and and so and I can walk right and so when I saw them when I saw them on a wheelchair and they can they're not able to walk most of them are using the electric chair and the electric wheelchair and they're never gonna get out of it right they they they're stuck in a wheelchair me I can walk I can go I can go places I can do things even though with one hand I can still do things so I I saw them as my inspiration you know them sitting on a wheelchair and still and still able to laugh about it and still able to have fun and not looking like they're this they depressed and they just they just the love just like the the the the happiness they they they affect me so much like I can laugh with them. Like I can literally laugh with them and they don't they don't care about what is going to happen tomorrow. They care about what happened today and I was and I was in on the court and I was on the court we happy happy together at that moment they cared about that moment they didn't care about what happened tomorrow they cared about what happened on that court and they were happy doing so and so they affected me so much um as I remember that scene as uh me playing basketball with these kids and uh and because obviously I was older than they are I was 15 playing with these little kids you know and I was so happy doing it you know um and seeing them happy and and so that from that day on I said to myself I want to become something to help others and that's why I you know I I don't know how it's gonna come about at that time but I was gonna see what I can do.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:03

Yeah wow that's powerful so I I like gleaned two things from that is that the children at the hospital inspired you um because of how they lived some were facing like you said situations that they weren't going to get out of um like they needed a miracle like you said kids children who weren't gonna walk um but you could at least walk yet they lived joyfully they were having fun and they just enjoyed that day and you said they weren't worried about tomorrow. And um I just take that as a lesson for all of us of whatever we're facing um living in today. It's not that you know especially for us as adults we don't think about the future plan for the future but it's really enjoying that moment. But the second part is you said they kind of gave you your sense of purpose. You didn't know how it was going to manifest but you knew you were going to serve and help people um who had some type of medical need um but in some way you had that that desire and that love was kind of planted at a young age.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:28

Yeah yeah yeah yeah so it is true that that some sense of purpose that helped me get through um me having purpose get me through some you know though those nights where I'm worried about the future and I pray about it I pray that I pray that I pray to God what what is gonna you know God help me figure out what I'm gonna do. Because I was 15 and I wasn't I wasn't getting a younger you know so what is gonna happen right so I pray about it but I when as I watch those kids I just assume I just immediately immediately um it's like God sent me a sign saying everything will be okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:19

All right so you said you were feeling a little anxious partly because you didn't know about your future where you're gonna go next now you don't have your arm and you're learning to use your new arm and you're getting older so where are you gonna go? What's life going to look like for you? Um so where do you go next now that you're in the US? Do you end up going back to Ghana? Um do you stay with Rebecca? Are you do you remain at Schreiner's hospital?

SPEAKER_06 1:37:54

What answer came to those questions that you had about your future and your next step so um it came time where I have to leave the hospital um and also my um my visa was coming to the point where it's almost expired uh because I'm always I'm only here for a visiting visa uh visiting or a medical visa so um there was a lady named Ati Mary um that I met for the second the second time that I was no sorry the first time that I was here I met her through somebody else and she lives in um North Jersey and um and she says to me uh come visit us come stay with us for the summer before you go back to Ghana and so and you know so I went to North Jersey and you know and I went to stay with her as a host family she was she host me and she became like of course I met the and I loved um the kids became her kids became like my brothers and we did everything together we played basketball together we did all kinds of stuff and and Tamari one thing about Tamari is she's blind she can't see anything and she and she hosts and she hosts um uh little babies so she doesn't host like a doll like me she takes in babies and she hosts them she said like a host for the little babies and as a blind woman she was able to take care of these children and her own children and so I went to stay with her she has four boys no five boys one died with a heart defect anyway so the so the brothers I became friends with them and we so while I was there she sent me to school Holy Trinity uh Holy Trinity uh school and so while I was there I was going to school to learn the English to learn how to speak and to so it was not your regular homework doing homework so when she sent me to school it was just to sit in to listen to what they're saying not to write or to do anything but to just listen. So hear me like almost 16 years old and they put me in this little kids these little little kids in middle whatever you know big babies pretty much so they put me right in um they give me this big desk big big desk and every morning these kids will come in one by one they will come in and they will they like the foreman line they will come in and then here I'll be sitting at the by the door with my big desk and the teacher the teacher always the teacher will say the teacher always says to the uh the children who will help Isaac today always one always so many hands will go up to help me so uh one person one person only always come in and help me yeah um and so I was gonna say uh about um how old were you at that time still 15 I was going into 16 okay and what grade or about the age did they put you in?

SPEAKER_04 1:41:38

Because you said they were little kids. Um seven seventh grade um like middle seventh grade eighth grade okay so like middle school age and then you're more middle school age yes yes exactly yeah yeah and they'd put you in there just to immerse you in the language because at that time did you read or write in English no so that's where the kids uh came in they were teaching me the alphabet alphabet how to write my name how to um how to say the alphabets you know A B C or um but but it but these kids already advanced they already know where they they they already pass all down but they're just showing me from the beginning. Yep. So yeah so one of the reasons they're putting you in there is because you're starting a whole new language um and something that people may not realize it's very similar to learning your first language especially with reading and writing it has to be taught you're learning your alphabet just the same so although you're 15 the language part you're starting it over right away in the beginning um and so um how did you feel being in with the younger students? Did you feel embarrassed at all or did you enjoy it?

SPEAKER_06 1:43:07

Like how did it feel being there and having to start again with the learning um at first I at first I did uh it was a little embarrassing because I was way too older than all of them.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:24

So and then as as the months months went by or the weeks go by I was able to be more comfortable I was able to make more friends uh they made me feel welcome they didn't make me feel like um I didn't belong there they didn't look at me weird they didn't look at me weird they just look at me with the excitement and also um you know half kids they were also curious yeah they also were curious and and so they they were so they were so kind to me and it's just funny that it all they are just literally all the hands goes up every time the teacher asks who would help him they were so into into into enthusiastic yeah in in um and helping me so yeah yeah I love that um and I can definitely make a connection with that and for those listening um who are like why was he put in there um when especially like international children come over um and there's a hosting family or an adopted family they're just not sure where to put them um because there's it's not really so much developmental because as what you've talked about you face things that the children at that school can't even imagine. You've gone through had to make decisions that adults would struggle to make you know you've experienced loss um so emotionally there's a maturity there's a strength and power but it's really just learning a whole new culture um just simple things like we said the weather and how to dress for the weather and the changing seasons that we don't experience much of you know we go through our rainy there's a little season but we're not going through huge changes um in our climate um and then the language learning even though you're grown up you still are learning the alphabet like you said you learned uh basic words of open and closed single words as anybody learning a language would um and I just made a connection to mine when I first came to the States my mom had me in preschool and I had turned seven so the the the children are like three you know so bringing dolls with them and they're they're three year olds you know they they're most of them are potty trained but they're still like wait this and I don't need that kind of help but I'm learning alphabet too and letter sounds so education wise in English you know um that was helpful until you know we could get a better placement but that's really common and happens when there's a language part of it too um and in the education learning so I just made a connection with that. Yeah and and also one thing is can you just picture a little kiss sitting at the on my desk trying to point showing me a 15 year old right 15 year old the alphabet I mean that's the smartest kid right because it's like they already passed all that like I said they already know the English they wouldn't know what they what the um ABCs are but they took the time to sit doing it doing it joy doing it with a joyful in their faces you know they were so happy every morning they're so happy to see me they always say hi Isaac every one of them coming through they're like hi Isaac and we always go outside we play yeah we always we play outside the um basketball courts and uh I'm the tallest person in the basketball court um they they sit on a swing uh push them on the swing and they just love that stuff I became like their big brother to them yeah so yeah yeah it was nice that's exactly what I was thinking it's like having a big brother and just from being the youngest um in my family um on both sides biological side adoptive side I'm the I'm the baby in um on both sides of the family um you look up to your older sibling and for them to pay you attention like for my big brother to sit down and do something with me was like okay like and so I can just think back to that age when you get attention from um an older uh child it just makes you feel cool too and so the fact that you played with them too did basketball pushing them on swings um just boosted their confidence while you're they're also boosting your confidence and I love that it's a give and take yeah yeah yeah I was excited yeah so uh you're at the school and um you're living with Miss Mary you said what happens next does that become your permanent home um so uh what happened was the again the uh here comes the visa issue again so the visa was toward the end almost coming to the end you know so now we face another question uh it's time for me to return to Ghana like this like the first time now the second or third time and this time I don't know where I was gonna go I have no idea so here's a backstory in the meantime everybody was praying Rebecca was praying back in the state Rebecca is back in the state this time she's already back in Ghana and I was coming here I was just here to get staying on to marry to get recuperation more recuperation from the surgery so they were praying so in the meantime there were in the meantime um I was we were wondering how this is gonna all this is gonna work yeah and all of a sudden I got a um one day I came home and Tim Mary sat me down she said I get a I get um I get a phone call today from South Jersey and I said what she said yeah there's a there's there's a couple who wants to meet you I said really where for what you know she said I don't know um I have no idea they just they just call me they say they'll they'll be coming in um Thursday to come see you I said oh okay so she said don't go to school that day you know you're gonna stay home and I said okay so Thursday came around I saw the door the doorbell rang I look you know looked through the peek hole and and see these two couples standing there I opened the door and here one sure lady you know one sure lady and one tall man standing there the lady was smiling ear to ear she was smiling ear to ear and she's I said come you know I said come in they they introduced themselves they're like this um I'm Chuck and she said this is Dawn Chuck and Dawn and I said oh come on come on in this time I can read a little English I said come in please come in so I invited him in they sat down and Tamary sat down with them and they're like the reason I'm here is we're gonna we're gonna invite you to come to um to South Jersey we we uh we want to show you around we want to go take you to Sight and Sound for the weekend and I said okay but I didn't know what the plan was so um at this point my visa was pretty much expired so I would say my goodbyes to the stuff the to the students so um everybody was sad that uh it's time for me it's come that time for me to return to Ghana.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:11

Yeah um I was scared for my life I was scared that um I was gonna go back there to nothing you know so um so Auntie Mary said so anyway so and um so the couple they came in they're like okay we're gonna come we're gonna take you to go show you good time for the weekend I said okay so they took me away Thursday I went um so they I left with them that day and and on the ride home they were trying to talk to me but the English was like a little difficult. But uh I can respond to certain things but it's also frustrating because I really want to talk to them because I sort of like them like them already even though yeah it's like somebody you met you just met but you you felt like you you you you felt like you know them all your life that's how much they that's how much they made me feel when I was riding with them. Yeah they didn't make me feel uncomfortable they made me feel welcome so I came home so they brought me home uh that weekend and we went to Sight and South uh we went to um you know Pennsylvania we saw a plague we saw we we ate plenty of food there anyway so um we came home that night that that night and it was the weekend so that Monday I was supposed to return to North Jersey to get ready to leave but they told me do you mind you know we we told Mary you want to stay another night right so it obviously they call to Mary and say she's staying for another night so that night they saw me down that night and my my mom says to me uh Dawn that time says to me do you you know what kind of food do you um what is your favorite food so I told them of course rice and bean you know rice and bean whatever but something like rice and uh beans and chicken whatever so my mom made me my favorite meal and that night they sat me down and they we prayed you know my dad was a pastor that no was yeah my dad was a pastor that time and we pray and she says to me she says to me um uh before that you know she they um so they will they pray after they pray they like they say to me um my mom says to me welcome home right welcome home I said we're already home right I'm already home they're like welcome home and I said okay she's like the reason we say that is do you feel like what do you feel if we said to you to stay here permanently how what make you feel if you want you to stay here permanently with us yeah I say oh okay as a host as a host family situation you know like another host family situation that's what I said yeah you want me to stay here for a couple more you know months before I go return to Ghana they're like no no no no um we want you to stay here permanently with us so that's what they said to me welcome home this is your home and what may um how do you feel about that and I just I just sighed and I said to them they're like now that you feel like you we want you to stay here what what what will you call us and I said well I guess you're gonna become my mom and my dad and my mom immediately got off the table get out of the table get off the chair hugged me with a tear crying and because my mom didn't have any children right my mom didn't have any children my my dad side does and and so she was crying with happiness and they she woke me she woke me to my bedroom and she showed me this is your room and I just turned and look at them and said and they said like welcome home you know this is your home now and this is your room and from that point on I just teared up that all the all the um the battles that I've been through all the sadness and the all the you know the depression everything was just lifted and God was right there giving me another lifeline that I needed it the most I'm thinking I was gonna go back to Ghana but whoever said a prayer for me whoever said prayer for me you know is yeah I I was it was it was perfect and and so my life so anyway that point on the work come home stuck in my head that I got another that I got another lifeline and and it was just amazing you know for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:52

Wow that's beautiful well I want to just ask when you heard those two words welcome home how did it feel especially in knowing that most of your childhood had been in the hospital um and you left your home and you'd been growing up in the hospital so what did it feel like to hear those words and what did it mean to you well what it me it meant for me that I finally made it to because the hope the hope that I was the hope that I was um praying for um before I didn't have any hope before I was I was in the dark before I didn't um I didn't know what was going on now there's a little light shine that little light shine on my path and that light was pretty much God giving me that hope and giving me um that point that time my mom and dad my future mom and dad um not yet we you know we had to go through there's another story with that but um it it was it was just surreal going back to your answer it was just surreal thing that I never saw coming I never saw it coming because um all I was thinking is I'm gonna go back and and not know where I was gonna go it was gonna happen to me but all of a sudden all that changed with the word the two word come home all that changed and you know so I did not uh it so so we're to me I was like I was in the I was in a dream that somebody needed to pinch me but it was it was real it was real that I finally got a parent the family that I didn't think of I didn't think that I didn't think that they uh and she he

SPEAKER_06 2:00:00

Didn't he didn't just God didn't just God didn't God did not just give me a family, he gave me a pastor and a pastor's wife. Right? So I did not it's not just anybody. It's just not just anybody. It was just somebody that you know that is gonna point me to the right direction. And that's my mom and dad. My future mom and dad. Yeah. So it it maybe it's you're happy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:30

And um I was just gonna go to how you felt uh when you saw your bedroom. Um and and they showed you your own room. Uh again, for me, it's it's like the the contrast of um growing up again, most of your childhood. You said you were between what 10 around 10 with your diagnosis and then going into the hospital being there. Um then it wasn't until how old are you, about 16 when you're with the 16.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:09

Yeah, the Burton.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:10

The Burton's yeah, so all that time in between you've been in the hospital. Um so yeah, that's almost 10 years.

SPEAKER_06 2:01:22

It it was surreal, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's where what we said 10 years from my life, yeah. Yeah, so the whole time I did not I did not um I didn't know what was gonna happen. Every time is every day was um every day was hope, hope, hope, you know, I'm hoping for something, something to change, change in my life.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:45

Yeah, yeah. So what was it like when you saw your bedroom and she said now you have a bedroom from being in the hospital?

SPEAKER_06 2:01:56

Um I when I saw my bed, my own bed, because back in in Ghana, we didn't we we shared a lot of stuff back in Ghana. Um so yeah. Um we share a lot of stuff. So when I so when I saw my own bed, when I when I saw my own bed, I was like, you know, this is just um too much, God. God, you uh all I can say, God, you are doing yourself. Like it's like prayer answered with other, uh with with more, more. And so when I hear my two, my two lovely mom, my future mom and dad, it was like when she said, This is your room. And you so that means when she said those two words, that's that means to me that I'm not going back. This is it. It just it just it just finalized the this this is where the road ends. It's like somebody showing you, this is where the road ends for you. The road, the road has ended for you. This is it. All your bottles, all your all your worries, the road ended for you. This is your room. You see, there's no no no other place to go, but to your room. You're not going back, you're going to your room. This is your room, and so that means my journey ended when my mom said, This is your room, and of course, that's the beginning of my journey, as you know.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:54

Yeah, beautiful, yeah. So I guess an end to that chapter, um, an end to that struggle, and so I guess what you were facing was one with your health, what was gonna happen with your arm, not getting better, to finally them saying, Okay, we can fix this, but this part has to go in order for us to start the healing process. But the second question you were facing was just displacement. You're not in your family's house anymore, you're at the hospital, now you're in the US, um, you're getting healed and learning with your new arm, where are you gonna live? Um, and so that whole journey, it was just like now you can rest and begin a new chapter. Um, and I think of just children who are displaced for whatever reason, um, whether it's due to health or uh uh abandonment or um losing of parents, uh it's it's definitely a struggle. And that was um even for me, that that was the weariness of it. Um when I shared uh my story, I said it was the game Hot Potato, um, where it's like you're getting passed around. Um and that was more mine. I didn't just stay in one place, but it was a lot of passing through the hands um within family. Um and children here in the US and in other areas, they're passed through uh different homes, uh, through the system living with this foster, that foster. And it's it's a weariness um because you have no place to lay your head and call it home. Um, and so the weighty question on you is always like, Where am I gonna go? Where am I gonna live? And so just stability um is just does wonders for the mind. And so that's for me why I'm so for just having permanent homes, um and and not having the passing around as much because it is it's a weary journey, and so you're like, okay, this is where I can lay my head and call home. So I just want to um ask you uh well, two final questions, but one final question on what we've been talking about today. Um so is there one or two, but we'll say one, one takeaway that you want um those listening, um, our listeners to take from your story or journey that they could use to encourage them. They may not be facing um a life or death illness or having to make a decision of keeping my arm or not, um, or uh facing language barriers, but we all go through challenges, you know, everyone's looks different, but at some point you're gonna face challenge. So, what would be one takeaway or one advice, I guess, that you would give to those listening that you've learned in your road, in your journey?

SPEAKER_06 2:07:41

Well, in my my journey slash obstacles, I um always always look for the positive and then everything. Um other people have issues, everybody have their own issues, but in my journey, it was about um it was just tough at first, but the more I came to know Christ, the better it got. That's how I've that's how I feel I felt. The more I have more people, God, God gave me so many other people around me, not everybody who gets for what I did, what what I what people, you know, not everybody who gets help from other people and stuff like that. But at the same time, prayer, prayer, prayer, pray, pray, I would say prayer works. My advice is prayer works. Because when you pray, the answers might not come immediately. The answers might not come immediately, but God is always working on it. So in my for my favorite thing, is uh my favorite verse in the Bible is um Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the plan, the plans I have for you declares the law, the plans to help you not you know prosper you, not to harm you. I'm I'm saying it wrong, but that's my my favorite verse is that. But truthfully, if we all, if we are um in my case, when uh when obstacle presents itself, you always have to look for the positive in everything. But in my positives are, you know, I have people around me, I never gave up uh hope, never give up hope, always striving that you can do it. You can now, you you can do it, everybody can do everything. Like those little kids in Inshranists, inshranists with the happiness and everything, they can do it, so do you can, so do you. If they can smile about it, so can you. Yes, it is tough. It is tough. Life is not easy, life doesn't present itself, life is always tough. But the ability for us, we always have a way out. There's always a way out if we seek it, and that is always do not give up, always seek the help from people or uh help from you know, if uh whatever your religion is, you pray, you do your praying, and you you pray that God will come through for you, and he's always can, he's always will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:10:39

All said. Well, thank you so much for that. Um and just so much that I gleaned from what you had to say, and I just want to thank you for your courage. I want to thank you for your endurance, your perseverance, your persistence, um, and then above all, just your kind and loving heart. Um and it's to not get emotional, but you are very loving um and humble towards people, and it's like God chooses people for a purpose. Um, and I just believe that he has you and and not because you're any above anyone else, but he has you in such a place and in such a time as this, and to have been brought over to live with that family because of how loving you are and how humble you are in every situation um that you faced at the hospital, being at the hospital, being at Shriner's Hospital, um engaging and playing with the children there, um, kind of starting over in your education at the school and your humility, but your love also playing with the children there, helping them on the swings, um, in every situation, just such gratitude, such humility, and love for every person that God brought your way. Um, is just beautiful and powerful. And I thank you for those gems that you gave of that we can do it. Um and um that you also said about the power of prayer. So thank you so much. Uh, you inspire me. Um motivate me, and you know, um many of the uh other children that have come here also face different situations, and they uh also gave me uh motivation, you know, even in my high school, my discouragement time, just seeing you guys, um uh the older children had come from Ghana just pushing forward in the midst, in spite of their challenges. I was like, all right, I I gotta go because they're going, you know, you know, you, Mariama, um really difficult situations and Daniel and just pushing past. I was like, all right, well, I I gotta go because um my brothers and sisters are are running and they're not letting anything hold them back. Um so before we close, I just want to ask you a more lighthearted question. So, what's something fun or interesting about you that most people do not know?

SPEAKER_06 2:13:42

Well, I um I like to be I like to go bowling. I'm in bowling league. Um I bowl every Wednesday. I'll be bowling with my family, my mom and dad for 22 years. My mom and dad. Oh wow. Uh before God God bless them, they um fortunate with the Lord now. Um but but we bowl for 22 years. And um and and so I'm uh after they passed away, I still I'm still bowling. Um I'm still to join the league uh see if they are there. So we are um so I have a bowling uh family. Um they are my family. And so every Wednesday I look forward I look forward in bowling with my bowling family slash friends. Um so we have a lot of fun doing it. And I also like to do photography because I believe God's creation, and a lot of people need to see God's creation the way how colorful they are. So I I take a lot of pictures and I try to show people um how the wonders of God. So I like to take pictures. I like all nature and take pictures, yeah. So that's what I like to do.

SPEAKER_04 2:15:05

Wow, that's so cool. I love that you still continue to bowl and um just kind of keeping your legacy with your parents, your relationship with them going, and the photography. Wow, your photographs are beautiful. Um, and uh there'll be a link for that for people to view uh his website and some of his work. It's incredible, it looks straight out of a magazine and um definitely talented in that.

SPEAKER_06 2:15:39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 2:15:40

Yeah, well, thank you again for joining and just sharing your story. It's incredible um and amazing, inspiring, and it just gives us no excuse. You can say if he can do it, then I can do it. And that's why these stories are to motivate you, to help get you out of bed. Um, that whatever you're facing, like you said, we can do it. And just as you thought of the children at the hospital at Shiner's Hospital, shout out to Shiner's Hospital. Um, but we can think of people like you and others who just inspire us to keep moving forward. Um and as always, before we close, just remind you that you are chosen and that God has chosen you for a purpose, and there's a reason for you here, and God's gonna fulfill good things in and through your life. Be blessed till next time.

SPEAKER_06 2:16:40

Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Have a good night. Thank you.