Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Missing Limbs - an article from 16th October 2006

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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