Mesay Alemu, a 21-year-old man, born and raised in the Northern part of Ethiopia, is the youngest of a hairdresser mother and a farmer father. Like his friends, Mesay took a 10th-grade level national examination to join a vocational school. His choice was General Mechanics. Playing football out on the fields filled his leisure time. But things changed.
“It was only a lump on my left leg that I found when taking a shower,” says Mesay. So, he didn’t give it much attention till it gave him pain. Eventually motivated to seek help, he visited a local hospital where staff took a biopsy and sent it to a regional referral hospital. The biopsy revealed cancer, a “Sarcoma,” growing in his left leg three weeks later. This diagnosis was challenging to hear and accept.
Nevertheless, he refused the recommendation of a left leg amputation. “It seemed like the end of the world. The diagnosis alone is a terrifying experience of my life, let alone the amputation,” said Mesay.
But then, after being home for a month, Mesay found walking increasingly a challenge, which led him to seek treatment again at the regional referral hospital. However, war blocked all roads to his destination in Mekelle. So he came to Mother Teresa’s house in Addis Ababa. There he encountered Dr. Saha.
Dr. Saha brought him to his place of practice, the MCM hospital. Through resources from Samaritan’s Healing Hands, the nonprofit foundation he started, Dr. Saha covered Mesay’s medical workup costs and planned his treatment starting with chemotherapy. Though Dr. Saha left for India before the treatment began, he referred Mesay to Black Lion Hospital, the biggest governmental referral hospital.
Unfortunately, contrary to his desperate medical need, as is the situation for the many cancer patients in Ethiopia, he found his treatment delayed. An appointment a month in the future was all he could get to initiate the chemotherapy.
He said that the chemotherapy days were ‘the most terrible days of his life.’ The physical side effects of the treatment, the terrifying fate of losing his lower limb, and his confinement to bed led to an increased depressed state of mind. Life at that time seemed dark.
But then, Dr. Saha returned from India, and Masey again became Dr. Saha’s patient. It took time for Dr. Saha to convince Mesay that he can cope with life even after the amputation and that all doesn’t have to be dark. Dr. Saha told him that he could have artificial legs and walk again; life doesn’t end here. It just begins differently. Mesay slowly opened up to the possibility of amputation and finally opted for the surgery.
Mesay and his family had no means to afford surgical treatment for his condition. But he nor his kin were dealing with the usual care available to an Ethiopian patient. Instead, they had Dr. Saha and his foundation, Samaritans Healing Hands. Dr. Saha covered all of Mesay’s medical bills and meals during his stay. In 2020, due to the large tumor of the left leg, he used a wheelchair for more than six months. The cancerous tumor called “Ewing Sarcoma” had eaten away the bone of his left leg.
After three weeks of recovery, Mesay showed signs of acceptance of the loss of his left lower limb, slowly learning how to cope and hoping for the best. He says, “It’s only when you are sick that you know how weak you are.” Nevertheless, he’s grateful for life and whatever lies ahead. For the first time in the last seven months, he walks with a crutch with minimal support. He does not have to depend on his brother to go to the mess for meals or the bathroom. He gives thanks for the treatment received, and when asked what he wants to do in the future, he says he wants to start driving as a career to support his family. It’s great to see “the future” he’d shattered in his mind to begin blooming again.
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‘Everyday … do something beautiful for God- whether big or small.’
St. Mother Teresa
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