Angelina and Dignity--Oct 2019

 

Angelina–October 2019 (Photo by John Carroll)

Early this month, I went to Haiti with a primary goal of obtaining a medical visa for Angelina. I had no idea if this was going to be successful because Haiti is a country that is “locked”.

For several months Haiti has been “closed for business” due to massive street protests in every major city. The “manifestants” are demanding the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who they accuse of corruption. This civil unrest has been extremely harsh on the millions of people who are in their homes and getting by with very little food and water. These same people have little to no medical care, and their kids are home from schools which are boarded up and locked. Haiti is on a malignant pause now which is very destructive to everyone.

After arriving in Port-au-Prince on a Wednesday, the streets were indeed rife with people and protest, but rumor had it that the next day, Thursday, would be calmer. Angelina’s interview with the American Consulate was scheduled for that Friday; however, the protests were supposed to be intense on that day. So I contacted the American Consulate on the day I arrived and asked them whether they would be open on Friday to interview Angelina. The Consulate official responded that we would be welcome to come the next day (Thursday), and that Angelina did not need to wait until Friday when the Consulate may be closed due to the streets.

So I texted Angelina’s mother about the good news and she was able to arrange for a vehicle to take us all to the Consulate.  The next morning we made it through the streets to the Consulate without any problem.

The interview went well and the Consulate official told us that they would grant Angelina a visa for travel to the United States for medical care. Usually, the Consulate does not issue visas the same day as the applicant interview, but with Angelina, the Consulate told us to wait. And two hours later, we left the Consulate with her visa in hand–very grateful that we did not have to return another day to obtain her visa.

The next day, Friday, was everything it was advertised to be. There were thousands of protestors on the road near the airport headed towards the American Embassy and Consulate. I could feel the tear gas in my eyes where I was located several miles from the airport and was very happy that we were not on the streets that day going to Angelina’s interview.

Over the weekend, I had to make the decision when to leave Haiti with Angelina. I sure did not want Angelina, with her monstrous weeping tumor on her back, to get ensnared or hurt by the crowds on her way to the airport. I talked to as many people as I could to try and get as much anecdotal information as possible regarding the protests. Finally, without any real “evidence-based reasoning,” I bought tickets online for us to leave on the following Wednesday afternoon.

Monday and Tuesday passed quickly and Wednesday morning arrived. I had texted Angelina’s mother to have her at the airport by noon. They arrived early and texted me asking me where I was. I arrived at noon, and after a brief good by and hug to her mother, Angelina and I walked inside the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

Twelve hours later, our plane touched down in the city where the accepting physicians and medical center are located. Angelina had tolerated the flights very well. In the airport we met Angelina’s host mother for the first time. Shana offered both of us coats which came in very handy because it had just snowed four inches and the temperature was to be in the low 20’s.

Based on Angelina’s medical situation, I thought it best that she be evaluated in the ER of the accepting hospital. My medical workup in Haiti of Angelina was incredibly deficient for many many reasons. So Shana kindly drove us through the snow to the medical center.

For the next 12 hours, Angelina underwent a thorough workup in the ER which even included an MRI of the tumor on her back. The medical staff in the ER was excellent and very kind to Anglena who was taking everything in stride.

During these 12 hours, as the test results returned, we received bad news and then more bad news regarding Angelina’s medical condition. And with the total body fatigue and sleep deprivation I was experiencing, I started having some sort of existential crisis about my role in the world. My clothes reeked of putrid tumor smell since I had been with Angelina for about 24 hours. How she put up with this misery for many years was unknown to me.

We just came from a country that is on fire and locked down. After 200 years, Haitian people have had all they can take. They have been treated with no dignity and they are angry. And so they are destroying things of value…but have no value to them. They are going for broke as they attempt to uproot their president. Anarchy rules.

And during that long night in the ER, I was angry as I watched Angelina sleeping soundly on her ER bed. Angelina, like the protestors in the streets of Port, had never been treated with dignity. Her mother had taken her to multiple hospitals in Haiti over the years…but no Haitian hospital or physician was equipped or able to touch the large mass on her back. And Angelina had been given the nickname “ball on the back” which just served to demean her and ostracize her all the more in her neighborhood. This sweet girl had been neglected and abused her entire life.

Angelina was eventually admitted to a monitored bed on the sixth floor. And over the next few days, multiple medical teams assessed her. I have no doubt that she was treated with more kindness and dignity in this large medical center than she had received the previous 23 years in Haiti.

Will we be able to help Angelina? I am not sure. She is suffering not from the neglected infectious diseases that we usually think about, but from neglect in general. Her disease did not need to take over her entire being, but it has. This is her lot in a society that is ignored, not only by its government, but by the rest of the world.

We are only so resilient. There is a breaking point for all of us—and Angelina has reached hers. And so have her neglected brothers and sisters on the streets of Haiti who are demanding change.

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org