October 29th, 2021 by Rachel Somers

When George came in to the clinic, he was looking for a second opinion. The day before, a battery had exploded in front of him, damaging his eyes and causing vision loss in one eye. He had gone to the public emergency room and been told he was unlikely to regain his vision. That wasn’t a diagnosis George was willing to accept, so he came to Clinica Esperanza. We couldn’t do much for him at the clinic other than give him a referral to an ophthalmologist, but we did give him a shot for the pain and a pair of sunglasses to help protect his eyes from the bright, tropical sun. The brief interaction I had with him, though, showed him to be an uncommonly positive person. He wasn’t worried or frustrated. In fact, the only thing he told me was that he knew that God was going to heal his eye. I did the only thing I could do for him in the middle of a busy day: I said “Amen” and wished him the best.  He left with the same positive attitude he came in with, expressing his thanks for the little we were able to do.  

One of the down sides of taking care of people on an emergency basis is that you seldom learn the outcome of the story. While that’s just an accepted part of the job, every once in a while I wonder how someone did. Imagine my surprise when I went to a local church the following Sunday, and saw George sitting in the congregation! Not only that, but he got up and shared his story with the church. He shared how he asked his friends to pray for a miracle, and went to see the ophthalmologist with only a few hundred lempira in his pocket, and hope for a different report about his vision. The ophthalmologist treated his eye, which included the removal of some debris, and told George that he could expect recovery of his vision. Along with that, he accepted as payment the lempira that George had on him, rather than requiring the full payment, which would have been well over one thousand lempira. And indeed, by that Sunday, George was able to report that his eye was healing and his vision was improving!

I didn’t see George again, but his story and his outlook will stick in my memory for a good long time…