Joyce Raymond's Journey
July 1, 2009
A year ago, Joyce Raymond was living a typical and idyllic life in a remote village in Papua New Guinea's beautiful Luisiade Archipelago.
Her village of Bwata is home to about 200 locals and life is tough. There is no electricity, gas or even flushing toilets and villagers eke out a living from the land and sea. They maybe poor, but they are culturally rich and enjoy a loving and close-knit community.
Father Tony Young has been the parish priest in the region for 47 years. The former Melbourne man, now 74, says he feels blessed that this is where his calling has taken him.
'I have made up my mind that while I am able to work, am healthy and not a burden, I will stay,' the softly-spoken priest says.
Fr Tony remembers the night last August when he returned from a visit to outlying villages to learn Joyce was in the mission hospital on Nimowa island.
He was shattered to learn the grade three student from one of the five primary schools under his pastoral care had life-threatening burns to about 40 per cent of her fragile body.
Her mother, Lucia Stanley, is thought to have transported her seriously injured child by canoe to the hospital after Joyce's grass skirt went up in flames.
It is not uncommon for children to suffer such horrific injuries as open fires are used for cooking.
The mission has basic equipment and the staff did the best they could to sooth Joyce's burns with regular fresh dressings and life-saving antibiotics.Their efforts sustained her, rather than healed the raw wounds that had ravaged much of her back, thighs, buttocks and arms.
Fr. Tony knew her life hung in the balance and considered how he could bring her to Melbourne for treatment. 'She's a lovely girl,' he said, 'lovely to look at and very courageous.
He said Joyce had spent almost a year lying on her front and every day had to have the dressings peeled off and sponged. 'It was excruciating.' Joyce desperately required the expert care of a specialist burns unit. For that to happen, she also needed a miracle.
The Luisiade Achipelago is considered a haven on earth. Pristine white beaches are surrounded by crystal blue waters. It is a utopia to tourists in search of a place unblemished by modern life. But its remoteness comes at a cost.The villagers are subsistence farmers and money is scarce. The only food source is what they grow on the land or catch in the sea.
And an accident, such as the one suffered by Joyce, becomes life-threatening in tropical conditions without specialist facilities.
What saved Joyce was the loving care and attention of her family - she is one of six girls -who never left her side - and the fact that an Australian sailor happened by.Brad Benbow had taken his cruiser True North on a charter through the archipelago late last year. On board was a group of executives from Victorian-based Nufarm, a global crop protection company run by Doug Rathbone.
Doug is a no-nonsense bloke who gets things done. He spent time in PNG when he was in the army during the 1970s and liked the fact that, on return visits, little had changed.
On this trip he took his wife Ann. They heard, through Mr Benbow, about Joyce's plight and decided to visit her in hospital. After the visit, Mrs Rathbone looked her husband squarely in the eyes and said: 'You're going to fix this.'
It took many people seven months of networking and dealing with bureaucracy, but on Monday, June 22, 2009 Mrs Rathbone finally accompanied Joyce and her mother to Melbourne.
Mrs Rathbone said that the first time she saw Joyce, the immediate reaction was not what she had expected.
'I knew she was badly injured, Mrs Rathbone said.
'(But) what we were met with was a beautiful, beaming smile.
'I knew we had to help.'
Her husband readily agreed.
He is a former chairman of the Children's Cancer Foundation at the Royal Children's Hospital and has had a 30-year association with the foundation, dating back to when his second son, Matthew, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of three. Matthew is now 32, and, according to his dad, 'fixed up'.
He bristles at being labelled an unsung hero, preferring for others to be recognised. It takes some prodding, but Mr Rathbone admits he paid the $20,000 to hire an air ambulance to fly Joyce and Lucia to Melbourne out of his own pocket.
Deftly, he moves the focus to others, such as Lorne Cole who operates Jet City, a privately-owned international air ambulance service based at Essendon Airport.
He was approached by Mr Rathbone to help with the Raymonds' transport to Melbourne.
Mr Cole readily agreed and when he was unable to have the fuel costs donated by suppliers, he, too, paid the $10,000 bill out of his own pocket. And on that Monday, two of Jet City's pilots donated their time to fly the company's Learjet to Alatou Island to collect the family. A specialist nurse also gave her time to travel with Joyce.
It was the culmination of much planning. 'You have to liaise with airport authorities, customs and quarantine to make sure everything is in place,' Mr Cole said this week. The Jet City team also had to prepare for and manage Joyce's medical needs on board the flight.
'It is imperative the patient is stable to allow them to travel that distance," Mr CoIe said. 'We are basically a flying MICR ambulance.'
He said Joyce was very excited about the flight and that she watched the video Shrek on the journey. On her arrival in Melbourne, Joyce was taken by ambulance to Southern Health's Monash Medical Centre.
'Much of this leg of her journey has been co-ordinated by Victorian members of ROMAC.
John Benger of Southern Region ROMAC was the person contacted by Doug Rathbone for help.
John has closely followed Joyce's progress for more than seven months planning everything from medical assistance to passports and visas.
He had assistance from ROMAC members Bryan Mason, Margaret Longden and Dr Janice Peeler and together they plan to keep in regular contact with Joyce and Lucia Stanley.
'ROMAC supports the family in every way we can,' .
Mother Lucia is currently staying at Ronald McDonald House.
Joyce's surgeon, Mr Chris Kimber, performed the first of a series of ski grafts on Friday, July 3.
Vietnamese support ROMAC and patient Joyce
August 1, 2009
The Vietnamese Health Science Students Association (VHSSA) comprises Vietnamese health science students (medical, dental and pharmacy) studying at Melbourne universities.
The VHSSA committee followed up last year's successful ball with 300 people attending this year's function and the proceeds going to ROMAC. Added to the receipts was a sponsorship contribution by Gribble's Medical.
VHSSA representative Leighton said it was very rewarding to see the results of all their efforts and they planned to revisit and bring a doll representing Joyce's favourite TV character. They saw it as something to remind her of her stay in Australia as, on her island, there is no electricity, much less TV.
A ROMAC representative noted that frequently, via a Church or ethnic community, many nationalities came together in Australia to support a patient. On top of this the nursing staff have made Joyce an honarary nurse with photo ID card.
Mum Lucia, Joyce and VHSSA committee members Leighton Phu (dental), Lien Nguyen (pharmacy) and An Duong (pharmacy).
Joyce ends her current spell in hospital
September 1, 2009
Joyce has now finished her grafts with an incredible result.
For nearly twelve months she could do nothing but lie on her stomach and do so in pain and with the risk of infection with, probably, fatal consequences. She is now up and running around.
She has 'won the hearts' of the nursing staff with her smile, and happy outlook, and has been made an official nurse. The fantastic nursing team had a replica Monash Medical Nursing Badge made up and Joyce (who now knows her way around the two wards on the floor) proudly wears it as she wanders around.
Joyce has now been discharged but after a few weeks will go back into hospital to have a tendon transplant in her leg. She is not significantly disabled at the moment but as she grows the tendon will not grow and she would become crippled with a severely bent leg.
Joyce wearing her nursing lanyard.
Monash Medical Centre has a teaching group, to help long term patients keep up to date with their school work, and Joyce has been included and is being taught to read and write. She is loving that. Mum is uneducated but very bright. She has been taught to knit and is handling complex patterns etc
They are staying at Ronald McDonald House and this is the first time ROMAC has ever managed to get a patient into this facility. It is incredible. Residents supply their own food but there is a team called the 'casserole club'which keeps the freezer stocked, and there is has a range of (mainly) volunteer staff. Some travel hours to do their shifts. Most are relatives (such as grand parents, sisters or brothers) of a family which has come from interstate, the country or overseas and have used the facility.
Joyce goes home
December 1, 2009
The good news is that Joyce was cleared to go home on December 4.
This little girl danced onto the plane when five months ago she was admitted to Monash Medical Centre after being transported from the plane in an ambulance as she was unable to move. When a surgeon saw her he said 'I don't know how she is still alive'.
Joyce has scars which will mainly heal. For a long period she will need to take care in the sun including covering herself and wearing a heavy layer of sun cream. There is also a splint to wear at night. This will ensure the tendon that was operated on is stretched so the leg grows straight.
Mum, Lucia, is probably one of the most intelligent carers we have ever had come with a patient. They are going back to an island but Lucia has shown she is totally aware of the requirements and will police them very carefully.
Joyce needs a review in April and the surgeons at Monash are discussing if she should return or if it can be done in PNG (not a big cost and probably only air fares).
Lucia's BIG concern is that on her island the food etc is what she grows, catches or picks from a coconut tree.
Recently a minister of the PNG Government was in Melbourne and at a function organised by Monash Medical she met Lucia and Joyce and in a speech recognised the contribution organisations such as ROMAC, Monash, RMcD House and individuals make to her country.
