A walking miracle

Mr. Nandi walked into the centre yesterday.

That's right. He walked.

Nothing unusual for most of us. Nothing out of the ordinary for many, many, many around the world.

But for him it was a triumph.

Seven months ago Mr. Nandi was on the point of death. His infected leg was full of pus. He was dying from the septicemia. Only his mother held out any hope. We had had him admitted at the Civil Hospital - he was there for a month without any treatment. Because he was HIV positive. And did not have clout. They sent him away on the point of death telling him to take anti-retroviral drugs - and that he would get better.

We were finally able to get him to Sion hospital where they did surgery and drained a huge amount of pus. But then they had to cut his leg open from the knee to the thigh. How was that going to heal? How would he not get infected again? It seemed impossible.

We had no option but to have him come home. We promised we would try all we could. Our nurses started going 3 times a week to dress the wound. One of the visits that Sheba made can be read about by clicking: here.

A dear friend of ours, Sam Thomas who lives and serves in Dehra Dun came to visit Mr. Nandi. He was horrified by the wound, but prayed with him. The prayer was this: Lord, I know my own faith is small and I am not fully sure that I believe what I am praying, but Lord I pray that this man will walk again.

Over the months since then, Mr. Nandi's wound has been slowly becoming smaller. Slowly.

In the last month, the nurses have switched to 2 visits a week to change the dressings. Mr. Nandi has started getting up a bit in the tiny room he and his mother live in.

When he came yesterday, his mother was in tears. Sheba had told her what a good mother she was and how proud we were of her looking after her son like she did. "He is all I have" said the woman "my husband and my other 2 sons have died too."

A neighbour of Mr. Nandi who is also HIV positive - and who brought him to us in the first place has this to say: "Jesus has healed him."

Mr. Nandi is a walking miracle. A slow-motion one to be sure. He is still very weak and it will take more time for him to progress further. But a bonafide miracle.