Victorie's Victory -- Tumor Removal

No longer hiding her face!

In 1995, life took a tragic turn for Victorie Adandadjan. In her hospital bed in her home country of Benin, this mother of 10 sat up to hear the ward surgeon tell her that he had only been able to remove a small part of the massive tumour protruding from her neck.

It had taken seven years to arrive at this culminating point. The lump started to grow in 1988 and Victorie had tried literally everything, from folklore medication to bush surgery. But to no avail. The tumour continued to swell.

After hearing the news that the operation had failed, Victorie made the long journey back to her empty home, feeling desperate and dejected. Her husband had walked out long ago, leaving her with a paltry income to somehow care for their youngest son. She seriously considered ending her life.

Attending her neighbourhood church one Sunday, she heard about Mercy Ships coming to her nations' capital, Cotonou, in 2009. Encouraged by her now grown-up son, she travelled to Cotonou in February this year; there she lined up for screening and was quickly declared eligible for surgery.

Shortly thereafter Victorie climbed the gangway and entered the strange world of the ship and a hospital where doctors completely removed the tumour. Her life turned around, she no longer needed to hide beneath a cloak; today she walked down that gangway and back into her community with her head held high and a changed face open to the world.