“From my own experience with Anna, I have a heart for the patients and their caregivers. I have been on side of not knowing whether my child would be able to have the right medical care.”
It’s been almost two decades since Merryl Mackenzie, now 65 years old, began her journey with Mercy Ships. In 2007, Merryl left her home in Australia and came to Ghana, West Africa – arriving on New Year’s Eve to serve as an Operating Room Nurse on the Anastasis, just before it was retired. She worked alongside volunteer surgeon, Dr. Gary Parker, doing maxillofacial surgeries. Having taken a temporary leave of absence from the hospital where she worked, the mother of three stayed aboard the ship for three weeks in pursuit of a childhood dream.
“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I had strong faith and desire to be a missionary nurse,” she said, recalling the dreams of her 9-year-old self.
Merryl was not only a theater nurse with a heart to serve others, but she was also a patient mother with immense dedication to her child, Anna-Claire, who was born with severe congenital deformities. As much as she would have loved to serve with Mercy Ships beyond those three weeks, her family needed her back home, particularly Anna-Claire, a teenager at the time.
For Children Like Merryl’s Anna-Claire
After serving on the hospital ship in 2007, Merryl knew she had found the right place to use her skills. Since then, Merryl would come on board to work in the operating theatres for a few weeks every year. Having served in countries like Togo, Benin, and Liberia, her awareness of the unmeet surgical need in other parts of the world grew and this further fueled her desire “to be a part of making a difference in another person’s life.”
Out of an estimated five billion people of the world’s population who lack access to safe surgical care, 1.7 billion are children and adolescents – and this burden is significant in sub-Saharan Africa, where although nearly half of its population is under 18, paediatric surgery takes a backseat in global health policies.
“I have experience in my own life with my own daughter having access to health care and access to necessary surgery that I know is not accessible to others and that breaks my heart,” Merryl explained, solemnly.
“There are enough people in my country providing surgery, providing medical care, that I can step away. There’s a whole piece of inequality and I just would like it to be more equal.”
Merryl believed that by contributing towards making another child’s surgery possible, she was not only a part of bridging an inequality gap, but in her own small way, she was showing gratitude for her own child’s life and sharing in another mother’s joy.
“I know that she wants to be here and to be able to go to all the doctor’s appointments and help me, and she’s trusting me in God’s hands and sacrificing herself to help other [mothers] out there and help bring lives to other children, which I think is a really beautiful thing,” shared Merryl’s daughter, Anna-Claire.
A Bigger Commitment to Service
Anna-Claire had surgery when she was only 9 months old and again when she was 2. She faced new health challenges as a teenager and eventually needed a heart transplant.
Due to her daughter’s medical journey, among other reasons, Merryl only served with Mercy Ships for two or three weeks at a time until 2017. Then, she received an email – the Africa Mercy needed an Operating Room Clinical Supervisor, a months-long role that would allow her to use the skills she had accumulated over the years. With her children older and independent and Anna-Claire in good health, Merryl was ready to serve long-term.
Having read the history of Mercy Ships and visited the organisation’s Australian office, 86-year-old John Mackenzie, Merryl’s father, supported his daughter’s decision.
“When she told me that she has been asked to go full-time, it came in a stage in her life when I thought it was probably God’s timing for her,” he said.
Merryl came aboard the Africa Mercy for three field services in the role of Operating Room Clinical Supervisor until the COVID-19 pandemic, then she moved to the newly built Global Mercy as Operating Room Manager in 2021 to set up six operating theatres.
During this time, Anna-Claire received her heart transplant after only 10 days on the waiting list, a miracle Merryl shared with gratitude. “That’s purely a God thing,” she said.
Merryl went home to her daughter, staying for the next four months before returning to the ship to continue serving.
“As a mum, it’s really hard to leave your kids and I know that even though I am growing up, that it is really hard for her to leave me and my brother and my sister and to go and help other people, so I think that shows a real sacrificial heart on her part,” Anna-Claire said.
A Fulfilled Leader
“She is changing patients’ lives positively but she’s also changing staff lives positively, like me,” said Ame Diallo, Operating Room Sterilising Processing Technician from Senegal.
Now serving as Hospital Director on the Africa Mercy, Merryl leads a team of medical professionals to bring free and safe surgeries to the beautiful island nation of Madagascar. Having occupied many positions and served alongside many crewmembers, she is certain that she has found a sense of fulfillment in her current role.
“The reason I feel fulfilled sitting at a desk and running a hospital is the impact you have in leadership, mentoring and empowering others,” she declared.
Australian Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Supervisor, Erik Anderson, has known Merryl since her days as Operating Room Nurse and developed great admiration for her style of servant leadership: “When you’re around Merryl, you always want to do the best for the patient and the best for the team as well. Merryl is not only looking out for the patient, but she takes great care of the team.”
Merryl’s journey has given her a unique opportunity to come alongside patients and their caregivers and to also find hope and healing in her own life. “When you go and serve others, your own personal challenges tend to decrease as you focus on someone else instead of focusing on yourself,” she said.
Anna-Claire, now 37 years old and mother herself, wants nothing more than for her mother to continue doing the work that brings her “so much happiness and fulfilment.”
“I am super proud of her and super pleased and I want her to keep doing it for as long as she is supposed to be doing it,” she said.
“This has been clinically the most challenging role I have ever experienced in over 40 years of nursing, but it has also been one of the most fulfilling,” shared Merryl. “So, if you are up for a challenge and you want to know that you are making a difference in someone’s life, please, we would love to talk to you.”
Find your place on board like Merryl today!
Written by: Stella Darley Tetteh
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