Tesfaye's Story: A Journey of Hope

This is the story of Tesfaye Negussie Anagaw. Tesfaye,which means "my hope" in Amaharic,at the age of 8 was struck with TB causing his spine to collapse. In 2003, around 13 years old,Tesfaye left his village in Gojaam Ethiopia on a journey of hope to cure his back. Through getting to know Dr. Rick Hodes I learned of Tesfaye's story one night in Addis Ababa in March 2008,and after a long process Tesfaye arrived in Vancouver on May 20,2009 for surgery to straighten his spine on June 12th.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Day 24 of Recovery - A new week: what will it bring?

9:30 am Monday, July 6, 2009: As usual, now that I am back in town I stop in for my morning visit to Tesfaye, but it will be brief as I have to get a number of things done and my afternoon is going to be occupied by the ZLC Charity Golf tournament which I usually play in because it is put on by my good friend Garry Zlotnik. The sky looks foreboding for a golf tournament, but maybe we will be lucky and the rain will hold off. Tesfaye looks even better this morning, with a big bright smile on his face as Nurse Merlita attends to him. However, his voice still remains a mere whisper. I am wondering if the throat specialist will see him soon so that it can be determined if another swallow test is in order. It is my good fortune to bump into Lise before I leave, and I ask her if a throat appointment had been set up. She said not to her knowledge (she was also off the last few days), but she would check and find out and give me a call.

11:00 am Monday, July 6, 2009: Lise gives me a follow up telphone call to advise that, indeed, the throat specialist is going to make a special appointment to see Tesfaye at 12:30 as he will be going out of town for a few weeks; Lise also thought it would be useful to have an Amharic language speaker at the appointment if possible. As I knew that I was unavailable at that time, I was fortunately able on short notice to arrange for Haley, Nanci and Melaku all to be there. The outcome of the appointment conveyed to me by Haley was that one side of the vocal cords had some paralysis, which apparently is quite a rare byproduct of intubation, but it should heal with time. They usually give it a few weeks, failing which they can inject the vocal cords with silicone to try to compensate for the problem. However, this problem was also impacting Tesfaye's ability to safely swallow without risk of aspiration, so in his case in order to speed up the recovery process and try to allow him to start eating solids they decided to do the injection through the throat into his vocal cords. Just writing about this makes me kind of queasy but, naturally, Tesfaye handled the needle in his usual stoic manner. Later that night Jim and I went to see Tesfaye and his whisper seemed a little bit stronger. I left hoping that as a result of the injection they might do another swallow test tomorrow and that he would now be able to pass it. We'll see.

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Tesfaye's Life History

Tesfaye's path through life and mine have been very different, but fate has caused them to intersect. I met Tesfaye and learned of his plight while in Addis Ababa in March 2008 as a result of getting to know Dr. Rick Hodes and seeing first-hand the extraordinary humanitarian work he has been performing in Ethiopia since the mid 1980's.

Here is Tesfaye's story:

Tesfaye was born in the Gojjam region of Ethiopia to farmer parents.He grew up in a one-room, thatched roof, mud hut, which he shared with parents, four brothers and one sister. His mother and father farmed grains, mostly teff and barley. About nine years ago Tesfaye's father died, leaving his mother to farm and care for the five children herself.

Several years after his father's death Tesfaye decided to come to Addis Ababa with his oldest brother to seek medical care for his misshapen spine. His back problem began when he was eight years old, a result of untreated spinal tuberculosis. Growing up, his family took him to the local healer who blessed him with curative Holy Water, but the pain and deformity did not improve. By the time he was a teenager the pain was so acute that he decided to leave his village and travel to Addis Ababa in hope of treatment. Tesfaye traveled three days by bus with his brother, neither of whom spoke any Amharic, the national language and dominant language in the capital city. Tesfaye and his family are from the Agaw tribe, a small population in the north of the country that speaks their own language, known as Agaw.

They arrived at the bus station in the large market area, the Mercato, and went immediately to Black Lion Hospital, where the hospital staff told him they could not treat him, promptly sending him and his brother away. Talking to some street children Tesfaye and his brother heard that the Alert Leprosy Hospital may be able to help him. They went eagerly, but were turned away for a second time. The brothers rented a small room for 1 birr per day, about 0.10 USD and stayed in the capital hoping for a miracle.

One day a woman stopped them on the street and asked Tesfaye what was wrong with his back. He told her that he had no idea but that he was in a lot of pain and was trying to find treatment but no one was helping. She told him that the Mother Theresa Mission may be able to help him and described directions to the mission. Tesfaye went to the mission early the next morning and the nuns admitted him swiftly and without hesitation. For two months Tesfaye lived at the mission where he received tuberculosis treatment. After two months he was discharged from the mission but returned each day for the next six months to complete his eight-month TB treatment.

After leaving the mission Tesfaye shared a room with his brother who had begun work as a day laborer in order to stay in Addis with Tesfaye. To contribute to his brother's earnings Tesfaye began pushing around a wheel-barrow filled with various novelty items, such as BIC pens, Kleenex travel packs, sunglasses and chewing gum. He peddled-almost literally-his wares around the large market place earning between 5-10 birr per day, about 0.50-1.00 USD.

Several months later Tesfaye contracted scabies, likely a result of squalid living conditions, and went to the mission to ask the nuns for treatment. He was given the proper medication and was on his way out of the compound when another nun stopped him and asked him if he knew a Dr. Rick. Tesfaye replied that he did not know any doctors, especially not a faranje-or white-one. The sister told him to return the following Saturday to meet Dr. Rick, who, she explained, helped Ethiopians with bad spines. Tesfaye came early Saturday morning and waited patiently for his turn to meet with Dr. Rick, during his usual Saturday morning clinic. Dr. Rick not only accepted Tesfaye as a spine patient but later invited him to live in his home and send him to school.

In late 2006, Tesfaye traveled to Ghana with a group of eight other spine patients to be examined by renowned Ghanian surgeon Dr. Oheneba Boachie. Dr.

Boachie felt that Tesfaye was operable, and asked him to return in 6 months. On return, he was not operated due to lack of a ventilator. On a third trip, the Ghanian anesthesiologists would not anesthetize Tesfaye, and surgery was not performed. Dr. Boachie's FOCOS staff was highly impressed with Tesfaye's attitude, and the help he constantly gave to the other Ethiopian spine patients. Disheartened, he gave up and resigned himself to the fate of living his life with a back shaped like a Brontosaurus or Quasimodo.

In the world of Rick's house, Tesfaye is everyone's favorite person, if he were to run for office, it most certainly be a landslide victory. Tesfaye is kind, patient and helpful. He is always doing his homework or helping the younger children with theirs. In anticipation of his trip to Canada Tesfaye has been diligently attending English class four days a week to supplement his 5th grade curriculum. I asked Tesfaye what he is most excited and nervous about for his trip. He answered that he is most nervous about people making fun of his back and that he is most excited about being with people who show him love.

Last fall I took a social history of each of the children living in Rick's house, Tesfaye politely told me, "I do not want to talk about my history until I know what the ending will be, I still hope thanks to God, and Dr. Rick, that my back may be healed." Now, we pray, that time has come, and so, Tesfaye has shared his story with me. We all look forward to discovering the end of the story. I know he will live happily ever after.

by Chloe Malle

Note: Over the period 2008/2009 Chloe spent a year living in Ethiopia helping Dr. Rick Hodes carry out his work. Chloe was recently featured in the January 2010 issue of Vanity Fair:Chloe Malle, Bright Young Thing Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com

Donations in support of Dr. Rick Hode's humanitarian work in Ethiopia

Donations to support Dr. Rick Hodes’ humanitarian work in Ethiopia (which are eligible for a Canadian donation tax receipt) can be directed to:

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
200-950 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 2N7
Tel.604-257-5100

Instructions should be provided with payment to direct the donation to support the JDC/Dr.Rick Hodes humanitarian relief efforts in Ethiopia. 100% of the funds so directed go to Ethiopia to support those efforts.

JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) is an international relief agency which provides non-sectarian relief to Jews and non-Jews in more than 60 countries around the world, and which has been active in Ethiopia for several decades. http://www.jdc.org

Tesfaye's Story: A Journey of Hope

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Day 24 of Recovery - A new week: what will it bring?

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Tesfaye in Vancouver pre-surgery

Tesfaye,Gary and Stephi on Granville Island

PRE-SURGERY DAYS IN VANCOUVER

Tesfaye with Haley eating Japanese sushi and using chopsticks for first time