Tears pricked my eyes as we embraced in a warm hug. I looked down at her stomach and exclaimed "You are pregnant" and she smiled back at me shyly. I first met her in 2010 as I carried out the checklist for her surgery. Her scalp was burned from a car accident, yet when I looked in her eyes I could see a deep beauty. I was suprized to learn she had two children but she was my age.
2010
Her name is Mayalie and she is from Sierra Leone. She told me that one day as she lay in a hospital bed after being there for months following the accident a white missionary Doctor walked in to find her crying. When he asked her what was wrong she explained her wounds were not healing after many attempts with surgery and skin grafts and she had no more money to pay for her care. He flew her to Togo for surgery onboard Mercy ships and our Plastic surgeon Dr Tertius operated on her multiple times. The results were wonderful.
Last week she came onboard for a visit and to share a meal with myself, Michel and the lovely nurse Jane who carried out her months of wound care following her surgery. On her back she carried her newborn baby of three months and 
people "oohed" and "aaahed" over her as we showed her around the ship. Mayalie had spent months on Deck three, which holds our hospital. She looked around, amazed to survey all the decks and crew living areas she had not seen in her stay last year. We took her down to the hospital and past the ward she had lived in as she snuck glances in the window at patients who were now where she once was. It was a great moment when Dr Tertius walked out into the hallway, he smiled with joy to see her well and healthy. It is not often that he gets to see many of his patients post-operatively, it was a special moment as she said softly "Thankyou Dr Tertius".
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