Here is the profound story of Maria Elda, long time patient at La Clinica El Buen Pastor in Honduras, sent in by our partners Sheree and Cindy:

Maria was one of my first patients at the government health center eight years ago. Quiet and somewhat serious, she arrived barely able to breathe. The nurses said she had been like this for several years and came regularly in search of medication that could ease her difficulty breathing. After a month, I realized she was coming weekly and no one had tried to give her medications to prevent her severe asthma attacks. With the limited resources we had at the government clinic, we were able to start medication to decrease her attacks. She faithfully came every month to get her meds and still had attacks, but now easier to control. Behind the serious exterior, I began to see some smiles. Every visit she would share a little more. She had severe pneumonia several years earlier, which had essentially destroyed one of her lungs. Just over 40 years old and limited by her illness, she was barely able to work to sustain her family.

Over the months, I learned more about this brave and proud woman. She had five children; her husband was a severe alcoholic, physically abusive, and stole money she saved to buy food for alcohol. When I visited her home, I was amazed at her courage and determination while facing all these obstacles. Whenever you spoke with Maria Elda, her first concern was if her children had eaten.

Upon finishing my social service, I began my work full-time in La Clinica El Buen Pastor. Maria Elda came with me. She was now a regular at the clinic, where she continued to find help and support from the entire staff. Over the years she had many health crisises. She begged us not to send her to the hospital and, time and time again, the Lord preformed miracles. Fortunately, We were able to stabilize her at the clinic. There were times when her situation felt impossible and still, her only concern was whether her children had food to eat. Her husband had been killed in a fight some years earlier and when she was sick, her children were completely alone.

As the years passed, Maria’s lung function continued to decline and she essentially became apart of the clinic. With severely limited economic resources, the clinic was the only place she knew she could always find help and be treated with love and respect. When I arrived in the mornings, my staff had often already started her treatments. Sometimes she wouldn’t come for weeks and then appear barely able to breathe. I felt angered and she would laugh and say she knew I loved her and could make her better. As various specialists visited the clinic, their response was the same, “You are doing everything you can for her”. So we continued treating her and growing to love her more and more each day.

In the last year, her heart began to fail due to to extreme lung problems. Yesterday when Maria arrived, her crisis was the worst yet. She arrived barely able to breathe, losing consciousness for moments. Unable to find her blood pressure, she slipped in-and-out of consciousness. As we prepared to take her to the hospital, she said she was going to die, and she wanted to die in her clinic. It was the only place that had helped her and cared for her. She didn’t want to go to the hospital or even to her home. We did everything we could, but even if we had managed to get her to the hospital, it is doubtful they would have been able to do any more.

Yesterday shortly after Noon, Maria Elda slipped from this world, and into her Father’s arms. My husband ran to purchase the coffin and our nurses lovingly help Maria’s family prepare to lay her earthly body to rest. Then, they worked tirelessly to make food for her children and assure that they were taken care of. As Dr. Salavarria and I spoke that afternoon, overwhelmed by the sadness of such great a loss, I was reminded of Maria’s last words. She wanted to die in the one place she had always found acceptance, love and help.

As physicians, we train and are driven to save the body. As ambassadors of Christ we train and are driven to save the soul. Today we were ambassadors of Christ first and foremost. To provide a clinic where one can say, “This is the place where I was accepted, cared for and loved”.