Final Countdown...

Only two days to go and I'll be leaving Gainesville to head to Haiti!  This trip has been in the works for a good six months now, and I can't believe it's finally here.  I am totally excited and totally overwhelmed at the same time.  I think reality finally sunk in last week and my practical side couldn't help but think...did I really just quit my job to go to Haiti?  But deep down I know that this was the right choice, that I won't always have an opportunity like this, and that making a decision like this would never be easy.  Right now I still don't know what's next for me after Haiti, all that I know is that's where I'm supposed to be for now and I'm trusting God for the rest.  Thanks for your love and support.  The next update will be coming to you from Hopsital Bernard Mevs in Port Au Prince!

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go." -Mother Teresa

Toys from Tyler

In 2005, when I first started working at Shands, I met one of my very favorite patients.  Tyler was five-years-old at the time, battling stage IV neuroblastoma, and having a stem cell transplant.  I got to be friends with Tyler and his family during that time and we have stayed in touch ever since.  Tyler not only defeated cancer, but has gone on to do some pretty amazing things.  He started his own charity, Toys from Tyler.  What started out with his desire to bring a Christmas gift to a friend who was hospitalized over Christmas, has grown by leaps and bounds every year.  Toys from Tyler collects thousands of toys each year to deliver to kids who are in the hospital for the holidays.  This year Toys from Tyler is going international and their first official donation is a box full of goodies for me to take to Haiti.  Thank you to Toys from Tyler!  I'm sure these toys will bring lots of smiles to the patients I will be caring for at Medishare!

Tyler, Me, and Nicole with the toys I'll be taking to Haiti

Can you even believe that these are the same kids? Time flies!

Saying goodbye

Less than three weeks to go and I will be back in Haiti!  Even though I've been planning this trip for a long time, I can't believe how quickly it's approaching.  I have just over a week left at work, which is crazy to me.  After seven and a half years at Shands, I can't believe that I only have a handful of days left working there.  It was sad telling my coworkers that I'm leaving.  But, as I expected, it's been much harder saying goodbye to my patients and their families.  Some of these kids I've known for years and have taken care of them as both a nurse and a nurse practitioner.  After going through so much with them it's definitely bittersweet to give them a hug one last time, not knowing when our paths will cross again.  When I started working in pediatric oncology, I had no idea what I was in for.  It has been the most difficult and the most rewarding thing I've ever done. 

I was examining a 9-year-old patient this past week.  I told him it was the last time I was going to give him his checkup because I was going to be moving away from Gainesville.  "Where are you going," he asked me.  When I told him I was going to Haiti, he got serious, looked me in the face and said, "does this mean you're going to be eating goats?"  And that is just another reason why I love working in pediatrics...

Big Changes

The decision to go on this next trip was one that was many months in the making.  My involvement with Project Medishare first began when I initially volunteered to accompany some coworkers on a week long trip to provide medical care in Port Au Prince following the earthquake.  Over the past two years, I've become increasingly involved with the organization and it has taken on a greater role in my life.  The last time I was in Haiti, this past March, I wasn't ready to come home at the end of the week.  After four trips, many amazing experiences, numerous great friendships, and countless life changing moments...I knew.  Going for a week had been great, but I needed to go down for a longer period of time.

So I began praying about it.  I realized pretty quickly that this was what I was supposed to do.  But the decision still wasn't easy.  Going to Haiti would mean loosing my job here in the States.  So how committed to this was I?  I believed in what Project Medishare was doing in Haiti, but did I believe in it enough to leave a good job and the comfortable life I have in Gainesville?  So I prayed some more.  I got some great encouragement and advice from a few of my friends.  I knew what I had to do.  How often in life do you get the opportunity to really go after one of your dreams?  To live out something that you're really passionate about?  I knew this was something I'd always want to do and that this was an opportunity I'd regret passing up.  So, I decided to resign from my job and signed up for a long term volunteer assignment with Project Medishare.

Several people have also asked me what my family thought when I told them I was quitting my job to go volunteer at a hospital in Haiti.  The responses ranged from..."I'm proud of you, follow your heart" to "why don't you stay down there longer than just a few months" to "maybe we'll come down with you".  Yeah, I'd say my family has been pretty supportive.  They probably weren't that surprised when I told them either.  I think most of them saw this coming.

Some of my friends have told me they just don't get it.  To that I guess all I can say is that if you've never been there, you probably never will.  It's hard to put into words how my life has been changed through my trips to Haiti.  But one thing is for sure, it's made me reconsider what I really "need" in this life.  Coming to this decision over the past few months has taught me a lot about myself, my values, and my faith.

What's next for me after I come back from Haiti?  I'm still not sure.  But I'm ok with that.  All I know is that God is calling me to spend my time serving in Haiti later this year.  After that, I look forward to the next adventure...

Haiti Trip #5

I am getting ready to take my next trip to Haiti to volunteer with Project Medishare.  I'm going to try to do a better job with blogging this time, especially because this time I am going to be in Haiti for a couple months.  I am so excited for this trip and I'm literally counting down the days until I leave.  November 3rd is the big day.  There will be much more to come, I have so much to share already.  But for now here's a link to my fundraising page if you're able to make a donation...


http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=340675&lis=1&kntae340675=8BE2871F5F094045AF0AA5CA375567EB&supId=362142838

Love this and I think it explains my passion for Haiti so well... 

"How do you find your vocation? You identify where your passion meets the needs of the world. The first part of that equation is to engage yourself in those activities that you feel you were put on this earth to do. The second part of the equation is to carry out those activities so as to benefit others. The world is filled with unhappy people who are doing work they do not care about, all for the sake of making more money or because they are trying to fulfill someone else's dreams" -David Batstone

It's a Girl!

One of the things I love about working with Project Medishare is that they don't just bring volunteers down to Haiti to provide medical care to the patients there.  They are working to empower the Haitian people to be able to run the hospital by themselves.  One of their big goals is educating the Haitian staff, and they stress that to the volunteers that come down.  They want us to share as much of our knowledge as possible with them.  The staff is so receptive to our teaching and I feel like they truly want to learn as much as possible.  However, I've seen that there is certainly a lot that I can learn from them as well.  Daverna is one of the Haitian nurses that I've worked with during my past three trips.  She primarily works in the emergency room and is absolutely AMAZING.  I'm pretty sure she could start an IV on a rock.  She has incredible skills but is incredibly humble about it at the same time.  I didn't even realize until this past trip that Daverna was also a midwife, and that she took care of most of the women that delivered at Medishare.  One day she was taking care of a laboring mom and I asked her if she would teach me about what she was doing.  She told me, "Yes, you deliver the baby.  Put on gloves."  It was an incredible experience.  Daverna talked me through it and I got to deliver my first baby.  Amidst all the sadness, illness, and death that I saw that week I was also blessed with the opportunity to welcome a new life into the world and I'm so grateful to Daverna that she allowed me to share in that.  Afterward, Daverna took care of the mom and I took care of the baby.  Both of them left Medishare to walk home two hours later. 

The newest delivery at Project Medishare

Giving her a checkup

Healthiest Haitian baby that I saw all week!

The first baby that I delivered!

Daverna and me, love this woman!