Joanne: A mechanical failure caused the Canvasback team to make an unscheduled detour. . . and save a life.
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Girard
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On Pollap Island, 12-year-old Girard Titus lay on his sleeping mat for a week, sick and in pain. His stomach was swollen and he couldn't sleep; he thrashed in agony at night. His mother and father were very worried, but living on an isolated island, they had no way to communicate their need for help. |
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Then the medical ship Canvasback arrive at their island. Removing his shoes, Dr. Franklin House entered the small board home to find the boy lying on a mat beneath mosquito netting, his lower back and stomach a bulging mass of festering fluid. His heard ached for the boy. After lancing the abscess and draining away two liters of pus, Dr. House left Girard's worried father with a few words of comfort and a prayer. The doctor said that if they had arrived a day or two later, Girard surely would have died. |
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Two years later, young Girard met the doctor who saved his life. He was fully recovered and in good health. "It's obvious that his parents take excellent care of him," Dr. House said of Girard, who has cerebral palsy. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be alive today." |
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