I will go to great lengths to preserve life. Every life is valuable.
I recall seeing a child in the emergency room who was barely a week old. He began bleeding from his circumcision site before he arrived at the LUTH children’s emergency room. When he arrived, he was as pale as a ghost. We swung into action. One person ran to the oxygen room, bypassing protocols to make a cylinder available. I went to the blood bank to explain the urgency of the issue at hand. They made blood that might have been otherwise available in several hours, available in 30 minutes. This was 2013. The child is 7 years old today. These are the lengths we go through to preserve life: because every life is valuable.
Wonderful outcomes for the illest children were possible with a little extra effort, empathy, and dedication. Practicing my craft in Nigeria is not without its challenges, but miracles of medicine happen with the most limited resources.
I have cared for children who had life-threatening illnesses, and I have seen them survive and thrive. These stories of survival are thankfully more common than those with poorer outcomes. Unfortunately, they are not told. The stories of children dying because of a lack of facilities seem to get more traction. Bad news travels fast, right?
For all who are already in the medical field and are thinking of the next step to take with specialty, I would encourage them to broaden their view beyond medicine in the consulting room and pursue paths that aid policymaking for a better healthcare system and healthcare economics to make healthcare affordable and yet profitable for investors in whom the sector desperately needs.
Ayodele Renner, MD
Consultant Paediatrician, Avon Medical Practice