JSMK Patient Story
This year, your participation in the 13th annual Run for Relief (Saturday, April 9) will provide support to the Jungle School of Medicine – Kawthoolei (JSMK).
Dr. John Shaw shared a malaria patient’s story with us, in pictures, to describe one of the ways our support has helped JSMK:
“This is a patient I cared for last year at our little hospital. She was one of my sickest patients with malaria so far. She had just about every complication possible (coma, seizures, severe anemia, kidney failure, liver failure, pulmonary edema and malnutrition). I thank God that she managed a full recovery, though you might not guess it seeing these pictures. I just want to encourage you that the pills you send out have enormous power when they manage to get to the right place, and are used correctly to treat an accurate diagnosis. I trust that God watches over each step of the process, from your warehouse, through all these steps, and on into the lives of our patients. Isn’t He wonderful? Thanks and God bless you, John Shaw MD”
On arrival, delirious and combative. She’d had fevers for 6 days already.
Jaundice – a mixture of hemolysis and liver failure
Toh, our medical director and I examined her blood smear
her smear: the round grey blobs are red blood cells, and the purple rings are the malaria parasite.
She developed severe anemia. Here is her blood spun down in a capillary tube
Toh teaches students how do do a crossmatch, using her father’s blood.
Her father’s blood matched well, and she received a pint from him
She required oxygen. Her swelling comes from malnutrition and kidney failure.
by this point, she had recovered enough to sit up and eat. She was carried for 1 1/2 days to get to us, and 14 days later, she walked home.