Missionary with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever

Never again will I say, "It's just a mosquito!"

Two months ago, I made arrangements to travel to Tampa to have the battery on my spinal implant replaced since it had reached the end of its service life after nine years. No big deal. Since I was going to be in the States for a couple of weeks, I figured I would finally have the procedure to repair some torn ligaments and cartilage in my hip during this visit. Again, no bud deal and I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone...or so I thought!

(Below: here's is a similar computer which I came to get replaced)

This turned out to be a truly life-saving decision. Adding the hip surgery to my schedule also required additional blood tests which I normally would not have to have done.

Damaris, Noah, and I all had Dengue earlier in the summer, and while they recovered quickly, I just couldn’t get back to feeling myself again. And I continued to be plagued by extreme fatigue, body and bone pain, and an ever expanding open areas on my skin which we mistook for mosquito bites. After more than a decade of rainy seasons in Guatemala, I have grown accustomed to being speckled with bites and scars throughout these rainy months. However, we now know that those marks are not bug bites, and are a warning sign, called "petechiae," and they appear when one's platelets are critically low. The Doctors believe I have been suffering from a critically low platelet count for weeks because of the Dengue Fever.

Other than platelet infusions and supportive care, there are not any proven treatments for Dengue and they are focused upon treating me for sever "Thrombocytopenia". Basically I do not have enough platelets to stop bleeding. Ether this third bout with Dengue has damaged my bone marrow and it's not producing platelets, or the Dengue is actually consuming and destroying them faster than my body can replace them. They continue to run tests and more tests.

In the Lord's providence, this often fatal condition was discovered during my routine pre-op blood tests and right at the last minute. Furthermore because of the ongoing political turmoil in Guatemala, Monday night, we changed my flight from Friday to Tuesday morning because the airport was being impacted by protestors and we were worried I might not be able to get out if I waited until week's end. -The Lord knew that I would be spending Friday night in critical condition in the hospital.

(When I first came down with Dengue, I preached out in Xela, a couple of hours outside Guatemala City. And it's always a blessing and pleasure to share in this historical Church, I was already pretty whipped-out then).

We went directly from my Doctor's appointment to the hospital where they admitted me and hooked me up to a rapid infuser to begin replacing some of my platelets. Instead on approx 140,000 platelets, I was admitted with only 28 and that number fell all the way down to 2 a few hours later. They did not have any type-specific platelet on hand but they gave me some anyway despite the risk. After about 3/4 of the bag I went into anaphylactic shock which they quickly treated me for. And by the early morning they had some type-specific platelets which were hung and given to me without any problems. As of a couple of days ago, I was at 77 and they have been giving me medications to hopefully increase this number.

The hospitalizations and the ongoing treatment are the reasons for setting up this GoFundMe campaign. Like most missions and ministries, we operate on a strict budget and have already allocated the needed funds towards our regular monthly programs to round-out our eleventh incredible year in Guatemala! But we did not have a near death experience via Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever budgeted for this last quarter. Thankfully, we have health insurance, but there is still an outstanding percentage we are responsible for and it is already way outside of our budget. I still have the original two surgeries yet to come and possible some long-term care for the Thrombocytopenia, which we we address if we need to once things settle down a bit. (If need be, they will be able to keep an eye on my platelet levels back home in Guatemala).

(Most people come to Florida to fish or go to Disney, but maybe next year we can simply be tourists.)

Thanks for your time, in reading a bit about our current challenge, and I want to say, "THANK YOU!" for your prayers for Damaris and Noah and for healing physically and emotionally. It's difficult for many pastors to ask for prayer since we have been called to prayer for, and care for, others. Yet in the Lord's providence, there comes a time when we have to reach out for just those prayers and now is my time.

En Cristo,

Rev'd. Dana

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

(2 Cor. 4:16-17)