A BODY WITH MISSING LIMBS
I was watching a really
fascinating programme on BBC2 called “Beyond Boundaries: The
African Challenge” (Sundays at 9pm). A
group of physically disabled people with apparently no help from able-bodied
folk are attempting to walk across Africa and this week they will be the first
group (able or disabled) to walk through the Etoshia Game Reserve where there
are about 500 lions as well as elephants, rhinos and other big cats roaming
wild. I am saying apparently because
apart from the expedition leader and a doctor,
the impression is given there is no one else with them except the camera
crew recording the trek. Apart that is
on the occasions when they have to hire guides or as in tonight’s episode need
to take a number of game wardens with rifles in case the wild animals
get too close. In the group there are
three amputees (one having lost an arm in an accident, the other two, one a leg
in a car crash, the other when a tree fell on top of her.) Then there is a person who was born with no
arms and has learnt to dress, feed and wash himself with his feet. Another two people are in wheel chairs, another has no control over her muscles,
walking on two crouches with a very tiring and awkward gait Three others who are the closest be being
“able bodied” two who have been deaf from birth and the other with Tourettes.
What is really fascinating and amazing is not just how they have
overcome their physically disabilities which is fantastic enough in normal
everyday life but how they are pushing themselves through really difficult terrain which would defeat
most “normal” people, let alone those
with serious handicaps. None of the
group had meet each other before trek and so on arrival in Africa there was a
meal and the opportunity to get to know each other over fun and food. It was only though as they trekked through
swamps, torrential downpours, deserts and wild inhospitable
wildernesses, did relationships
develop. That first evening together they
had a really good party with plenty to eat and laughter, each talking about who they were, why they had come and what they hoped to get
out of it. It was only as the going got
tough and the tough got going, did they
really find out about each other and relationships were forged. One thing soon became obvious though as
they set out the next morning, despite
all that they had been told, despite all
the fine words about this being a team effort and they all had to work
together, they were all strong minded
individuals who had never given a thought for anyone else, let alone worked as a team. Understandable when you come to think of
it, they all had enough to worry about
with their own problems without worrying about someone else. They had enough pain of their own to
overcome, to give any thought for what
someone else was going through.
Also, all their lives they had battled
to overcome difficulties and develop an independence so not to have to rely
on other people. The expedition leader
though from the very outset was concerned as he repeatedly reiterated that if
they were to get across Africa they had to learn to work together as a team
As I am watching it I could not
help thinking of what someone had brought to share at the Family night the previous evening and again thought just how wrong what she was saying was. As the group progressed on their journey through Africa, there were quick glimpses of their lives, how they had become disabled and
the struggle they go through everyday to overcome the difficulties. At no point though do you get the
impression that they would rather not have their missing limbs back, or that they lived quite happily without
them. Without their limbs, life was one big struggle and they have to
fight everyday to overcome the handicaps they suffered and the walk across
Africa demonstrated that even more so.
The man who had lost his arm said he was in a deep depression for about
6 years after losing his arm and on a number of occasions wanted to die. It was only later did he start to “pull”
himself together, learn to manage with one arm and now has quite a good life with only one arm to do
everything. The girl who lost her leg
had to have numerous operations before she could have an artificial leg fitted
. The long slow process of learning to
walk with an artificial leg, followed by
more operations and fittings as the stump,
which is all that’s left of the leg, grows, Each time it grows even a little bit, a new artificial leg has to be
fitted. Then there is the replacement of worn or broken ones. Each time there is more struggling to
adapt, more pain to endure. As well as all that, the stump easily gets infected, blisters,
rubbed raw and so constantly needs to be looked after and so more pain. One thing is certain, losing a limb
was not taken lightly or glibly dismissed, as the article would seem
to imply
The man with no arms was the first to give up. Although still fit
and could still have gone on he was finding it increasingly difficult to wash
himself in the trek situation. He
became therefore increasingly concerned about his personal hygiene and fearful
of his feet becoming damaged or diseased. He became fearful that if something did
happen to his feet then he would not be able to look after himself in anyway
what so ever, so became the first to
drop out and fly back home.
He certainly was concerned about losing a limb and gave up his
dream to ensure he didn't lose another one.
Others were to drop out as the weeks went on and it was fascinating to
see how they coped as they struggle across the desert, dealt with
the heat and the ever presence danger of wild animals.
I don’t have a copy of the article that was read out and I may therefore
have misheard but the gist of it was we need the church but
the church does not need us, which seems
in total contrast to what Paul said in 1 Cor 12:14-21 especial when in v 21 he says The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And
the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"(NIV)
The article went on to liken the church to the body in that if the
body loses a limb, life goes on and it
doesn't die. The limb though that is
lost does and is fit only to be thrown on the rubbish tip or destroyed. That of course is true if you
see people like limbs just pieces of flesh to be thrown away or discarded. If you stop and look more closely
though, not only does the body need all
it’s limbs if it loses one, it will die
without some very radical and skilled surgery when that limb is damaged or lost. Take as an example those people in the TV
programme, each one who lost a limb
almost died but for speedy intervention. Each of them, whether it was the person trapped by a
falling tree or involved in a car accident,
would have bled to death if help had not been quickly at hand to stem
the bleeding and rush them to hospital where highly skilled surgeons then
operated on them. The same would
happen to anyone who loses a limb, no
matter how small or insignificant it may be,
even chopping off a finger or toe would have the same effect if the
wound was not quickly bound up and the bleeding stemmed. Even if the bleeding is stopped, unless the wound is treated and looked after
for some time afterwards,
infection would set in and poison the blood stream. This if not treated
will in time kill the person. As for
the limbs, although Christ said it is
better to lose a part of your body than for your whole body to be cast into
hell (Matt 5:29-30) I don’t think he
was in any way implying you do not need your eye or hand, on the contrary he
went about healing the withered arm (Matt 12:10) and re-attaching the limbs back
to the body.
The limbs are, contrast to what the article would appear to be
saying, such an important part of the
body that we fight tooth and nail to keep them and only at the last resort are
they removed and cast into the waste bin.
In an accident where a limb,
whether it is just a toe or a major organ,is severed, everything is done to save it. At the scene, people search
until they find the missing limb. They then wrap
it up in clean cloth and if possible, pack
it in ice before rushing it along with the patient to hospital. There the hope is the surgeon will sew
it back on. Even where a limb is
diseased and may have to be removed for the health of the patient, the doctors are reluctant to do so until all
else has failed. For example my father
who was 86 has had to have his toes removed on his right foot. Even though he was 86 and only had a few years
to live, the doctors did everything in
their power not to have to remove them. For months, he went into
hospital on a regular basis for treatment.
Even when it was obvious they had to be removed, the doctors continued to try and save
them, cutting away only the bad
bit, time and time again hoping the flesh that was left would recover. Eventually though they had to give in and
remove all of the toes. Why? if it doesn't really matter about the limbs
and the body can function quite happily without them. Yes,
dad eventually managed quite well without toes on his right foot but several months after the operation,
the wounds hadn't properly healed and the district nurse had to go in every other day to dress his foot.
He had also to go regularly to the hospital to make sure it is healing
properly and infection hadn’t set in.
Is the lesson to be learnt here not as the article would seem
to imply that we need the church but the church does not need us but rather the
church needs everybody. We need every limb
and we should be fighting tooth and nail to keep everyone that Christ gives us. If through accident or disease a limb is
detached from the body then we should gently and carefully rush them to the
Chief Surgeon to be re-attached and when the operation has been done, to dress the wound until it is
fully healed. Alas, instead we have
taken the artilce to heart. We say it doesn't matter that we
have lost a limb or a member. The body can manage
without an arm, or a leg or even a little toe. Look again more closely at those who have
lost a limb. See what they went through
in order to survive without the limb and ask ourselves again if the mantra “We need the church
but the church does not need us” is really true and is that really what Christ is saying
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