Don protégé
Update… they’ve been able to successfully wake Matanda up from the coma. He is able to recognize his family, but not able to communicate verbally yet. They are hoping to get him into therapy in the next couple weeks to begin the long road to recovery. The Matanda’s are overwhelmed with the love and support they’ve received. Thank you to all who have donated. Every little bit helps.
Two weeks ago, on the evening of Friday January 12, Richard was viciously attacked and robbed just outside his home in Windhoek, Namibia. During an evening walk His attackers hit him over the head with rocks taking his phone and wallet leaving him severely wounded. A neighbor found him and called an ambulance to get him to the hospital. Richards wife, Ruffine was working at a clinic (she’s and OBGYN) 9 hours away when she received the news. She was able to catch the last bus Friday evening and arrived in Windhoek on Saturday morning to be with Richard. As a result of the attack, Richard needed emergency surgery to remove pieces of bone from his brain and relieve some of the swelling. He was induced into a coma and put on breathing support while physicians assessed his condition. Richard has been fighting for his life in the care of a neurosurgeon at a private hospital. The neurosurgeon has a positive attitude and outlook, but is uncertain what the long term care will look like for Richard. The swelling has come down, but after several scans they can see areas of his brain that have been affected. During one of the most recent scans, they noticed some small pieces of bone left from the original surgery, which they will need to remove at some point after Richard regains some strength. After 2 weeks they’ve finally moved him out of the ICU, taken him off breathing support, and started to stimulate his brain to slowly bring him out of the coma. His body is thankfully responding to this. But they are still unable to completely assess what his prognosis will be until he completely wakes up. Regardless of what the prognosis is, we know Richard has a long road of recovery ahead of him.
As you can imagine, Richard’s medical bills have begun to greatly outnumber any funds they had set aside to take care of emergencies like this. It cost them $2k per day to have Richard in the ICU. Right now, it’s costing them somewhere close to $1.5k per day to get the care he needs. A number of missionaries who served with Richard in Ghana, West Africa have decided the best way we can help is to set up this Go Fund Me. This will provide financial relief for Richard and his family while he hopefully makes a full recovery.
Richard and Ruffine have a small immediate family but have sponsored/supported many other children through primary school and university throughout the years. Their home has been a place of refuge for many. They are a huge blessing not only to their small community in Namibia, but to thousands of people around Africa. Richard serves as a managing director for a non-profit serving many countries in Africa. They recently built a medical clinic to serve a rural community outside of Windhoek. There are countless other examples of how they continually seek for opportunities to serve and build up others around them.
With this long road of recovery, we know Richard and Ruffine would be so grateful for any help. No donation is too small! Every little bit will help them. We are hoping that by relieving some of this burden for them that Richard will be able to focus solely on recovering. Thank you so very much!
Two weeks ago, on the evening of Friday January 12, Richard was viciously attacked and robbed just outside his home in Windhoek, Namibia. During an evening walk His attackers hit him over the head with rocks taking his phone and wallet leaving him severely wounded. A neighbor found him and called an ambulance to get him to the hospital. Richards wife, Ruffine was working at a clinic (she’s and OBGYN) 9 hours away when she received the news. She was able to catch the last bus Friday evening and arrived in Windhoek on Saturday morning to be with Richard. As a result of the attack, Richard needed emergency surgery to remove pieces of bone from his brain and relieve some of the swelling. He was induced into a coma and put on breathing support while physicians assessed his condition. Richard has been fighting for his life in the care of a neurosurgeon at a private hospital. The neurosurgeon has a positive attitude and outlook, but is uncertain what the long term care will look like for Richard. The swelling has come down, but after several scans they can see areas of his brain that have been affected. During one of the most recent scans, they noticed some small pieces of bone left from the original surgery, which they will need to remove at some point after Richard regains some strength. After 2 weeks they’ve finally moved him out of the ICU, taken him off breathing support, and started to stimulate his brain to slowly bring him out of the coma. His body is thankfully responding to this. But they are still unable to completely assess what his prognosis will be until he completely wakes up. Regardless of what the prognosis is, we know Richard has a long road of recovery ahead of him.
As you can imagine, Richard’s medical bills have begun to greatly outnumber any funds they had set aside to take care of emergencies like this. It cost them $2k per day to have Richard in the ICU. Right now, it’s costing them somewhere close to $1.5k per day to get the care he needs. A number of missionaries who served with Richard in Ghana, West Africa have decided the best way we can help is to set up this Go Fund Me. This will provide financial relief for Richard and his family while he hopefully makes a full recovery.
Richard and Ruffine have a small immediate family but have sponsored/supported many other children through primary school and university throughout the years. Their home has been a place of refuge for many. They are a huge blessing not only to their small community in Namibia, but to thousands of people around Africa. Richard serves as a managing director for a non-profit serving many countries in Africa. They recently built a medical clinic to serve a rural community outside of Windhoek. There are countless other examples of how they continually seek for opportunities to serve and build up others around them.
With this long road of recovery, we know Richard and Ruffine would be so grateful for any help. No donation is too small! Every little bit will help them. We are hoping that by relieving some of this burden for them that Richard will be able to focus solely on recovering. Thank you so very much!
Organisateur
Zack Wilson
Organisateur
American Fork, UT