At fifteen years of age, Nana was given in marriage and pregnancy soon followed. After counting nine full moons, Nana prepared herself to give birth but the baby did not come. After three days of medical care in a local hospital, the now lifeless baby was delivered. Nana was left with an obstetric fistula and, as a consequence, her husband left her.
Seven years after her childbirth injury, Nana moved to Conakry, Guinea to access the surgery she had heard about for women with her condition. While Nana’s two surgeries at the hospital in Conakry failed, her life took an unexpected turn for the better. “Three years and four months ago, I met Djibril. He decided that he loved me, and he set about winning my heart. I told him about my condition, and he said that was all the more reason I needed him. Like my parents, Djibril never doubted that I would be healed, and he was just the man God had in mind to help me,” Nana recalls. Then, in 2013, Nana experienced what she calls an incredible blessing. Djibril was watching television and learnt of Mercy Ships and its big white hospital ship.
Nana came to the Mercy Ships screening with a group of friends, and her faithfulness bore fruit. The skillful hand of Australian surgeon Dr. Judith Goh and the intense prayers of everyone around her resulted in a successful fistula repair. After a two-week recovery period, Nana was finally healed.
