PCM News: Cathy's Shoulder

24 April 2018

Cathy's Shoulder

A quick update on Cathy's shoulder.

The result of a rare moment of operator error early January, Cathy had a shoulder opp in Pretoria at the beginning of May.

Six weeks in a sling and six months without any weight-bearing these photos hide the pain, sleepless nights and three times a week visits to the physio of the last two months.

Brave girl!

The cause. An awkward double step in a local single track section known as Oliver's Twist.

We hoped it was just a soft tissue injury that would just sort itself out. After a while and after a few visits to specialists it became obvious that more professional intervention was required.

Surgery was therefore scheduled in Pretoria in early March.

Moments before the big event

A while after the general anaesthetic had worn off

Cathy was in hospital for a couple of nights.

Despite the smiles, the operation has left Cathy in considerable constant pain which a whole arsenal full of pain killers has only managed to dent. It was a good five weeks before she managed to sleep through a full night.

The other downer was having to wear a sling 24 hrs a day for six weeks and then face six months with no weight bearing. This has obviously put a major dent in her nursing and baby delivering activities.

Physio three times a week and exercises three times a day is necessary but seems to aggravate the pain.

Some friends have been very good at helping out with exercises though.

She even tried some Kriotherapy - with mixed results.

Paul had to up his game in the kitchen if both of us were to survive, but some things have to happen regardless of the odds.

A joint effort haircut

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

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A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.