Center for Ministry Formation

Turning Broken bones into blessings

Editor’s Note: The following was written by Andy Lyons, director of corporate communications and content strategy for Roper St. Francis Healthcare. He and his wife traveled to Grenada in early September with Orthopedic Physician Assistant Ali Swanson and members of the non-profit she founded called Partners 4 Global Health. This story explains why.

My wife Renee’s ankle snapped in three places the second she slipped on gravel in front of our vacation rental in Grenada.

It was bad. Bone protruded through her skin. I ran into the street to flag down a local taxi driver who jumped out, looked down, whispered an expletive, scooped her up and sped through traffic-packed narrow streets to the hospital. When we screeched to a halt, a nurse looked at her ankle and winced. She asked when we planned to leave the country. I said in two days. “You’re going to be here longer than that.”

When an orthopedic doctor examined Renee the next day, she offered a sobering and measured verdict: “The leg can be saved… No amputation.” Why are we talking about amputation? I would learn doctors remove limbs in Grenada, more often than in the U.S. A lack of medical supplies precludes them from complicated surgeries.

We wanted to return to the U.S. for surgery, but Renee was in no shape for travel. Renee was given very little to numb the pain, and she was suffering. And yet in the face of tragedy, something miraculous happened. The people of Grenada helped us. They showed compassion. They were kind.

St. George’s General Hospital doesn’t provide bed sheets, yet a patient technician found those. When I ran out of local currency to buy Renee water, a local women in the waiting area gave me cash. I tried to give her the change back and she said: “No, you need it.” When I needed to buy Renee food, a stranger drove me. When we administered the only dose of blood thinner prior to our flight home and then that flight was canceled, a resident gave me a bottle of aspirin out of his work truck to help thin Renee’s blood and prevent a clot. I tried paying, but he too waved that off. “You need it.”

For a couple of days, Renee and I thought we would never leave the country. Plus, how could I get her on an airplane when I couldn’t even locate a wheelchair? The day I overpaid for one, nurses discharged Renee from the hospital, and that’s when Dr. Garvin Bowen approached me. Renee had only met him once, in the middle of the night, under the fog of pain. She told me: “the most gorgeous man visited, but I think I was dreaming.” Dr. Bowen said Renee had told him I work for a healthcare system in the United States and explained how the hospital’s orthopedic drill was not operating properly. Could I help get them one? His ask seemed so reasonable.

When I got back, I asked. And then Roper St. Francis Healthcare — and I know it was God as well — provided not only one cordless drill, but three, as well as a charging station. These are the same Stryker series drills Roper St. Francis Healthcare uses in operating rooms.

And then something more amazing happened, Roper St. Francis Healthcare and another non-profit group partnered to provide key donations of medical equipment for Grenada — enough to fill a giant room that right now you can’t even turn around in.

Grenada helped me and Renee. God was telling me to help Grenada. In the coming weeks, we will work with Grenadian government and hospital leaders about which donated medical supplies to send. We hope to ship a container to Grenada by early 2024 and return to the country. If you would like to assist, please reach out on P4GH’s website.

NOTE: This story first appeared in Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s blog. Readers are encouraged to follow this link to read the full account of Andy’s remarkable story.