I AM SAVED BY THE LOVING MERCY OF GOD, MY FATHER.
A personal eye witness account by Dr. Gabriel Oon
( HOSPITALLER, SINGAPORE ORDER OF MALTA)

A Testimony:
 

Friday 24th March 2006.
Our party of four, Knight George Thia, Dame Jeannie Tien, and Consultant Architect and Friend of the Order, Mark Chin, arrived in Medan on the Friday 24th March 2006 to make our final site inspection of the repairs done to the second Parish Church of  Aceh, the Parish Church of St. Josef at Lawe Deski which was in South east Aceh, and 250Km from Medan. This was a difficult land journey of 7 hours through very narrow and windy mountain roads, with land slips, and many pot holes in the road.

Mr. Volke Stapke,  Director of Malteser International( the Emergency Corp of the International Order of Malta) had offered us every assistance and had given us his mobile contact in the event of any emergency. There were 7 of us packed into the Ford SUV and we left at 11.00am, stopping an hour later at Brastagi to have a lunch at a Chinese Restaurant. Beyond Brastagi the mountainous roads became more torturous and filled with many pot holes, and there was no where we could stopped.

At about 4.00pm and about an hour from the village of Lawe Deski, we stopped at the deserted Church of St Vincent DePaul, to relieve ourselves. As I was standing on the latrine, I felt groggy, but was able to finish urinating and go down to join the others. Feeling weak and groggy, I sat down for about five minutes. My companions, Jeannie, Mark and George noticed that I was pale and asked if I was OK. I was sweating and felt that this was due to the heat. I felt my pulse. It was strong and regular in beats. I told them I was OK and we left for Lawe Deski where we arrived at about 5.00pm.

At the Parish Church of St. Josef, we were warmly welcomed by the two Parish Priests, Fr. Francisikus  SVD, Fr. Charles, the Principal of the School and the seminarian Michael. I was perspiring a lot, and felt that this could be due to the heat. Fr. Fransiskus showed me to my room which I shared with Mark. This was the room occupied by the seminarian Michael. On the wall was the picture of Pope Benedict XVI, and on his head board there were many rosaries and crosses.

We were given a spicy dinner, with fish, but my appetite was poor, and I just ate the tomatoes and cucumbers, and drank the water from my flask. After dinner we went to the newly repaired and beautiful church, which had been strengthened to withstand earthquakes. This was from the donations of funds from our Archdiocese Crises and Coordinating Team(ACCT) .

As we were doing the Station of the Cross at 8.00pm, I began sweating even more, felt more groggy, and had to sit down on the bench. I didn’t feel any pain. My pulse was faster than usual. I closed my eyes and prayed the rest of my Rosary. When Mass started and Holy Communion was given, I took the Body and the Blood of Christ. Soon after that I felt more unwell, and needed to go to the toilet immediately to defaecate. I told Mark, to apologize to Fr. Franciskus that I was unwell, and could not stay on to the end of the Mass. In the bed room, the urge to empty my bowels was so strong, that I did not even have time to remove completely my underpants in the squatting toilet. There was terrific deluge of liquid tarry stools mixed with blood, and it kept pouring out. I knew that I was in serious trouble, as this was a serious Hemorrhage and needed urgent hospitalization, but we were cut off, and there was no way any rescue could come to save me in time.  Even after washing the pan with mountain water, there was still the stain of blood. I felt much better in the abdomen, and went back to my bed where I laid down. I searched my medicine bag for emergency antacids and Zantac or Losec. Although I could find only Mucaine ( an antacid), which is known to heal superficial erosions that can cause bleeding, I could not find any Zantac. With such a torrential hemorrhage, urgent transfusion was needed
 

As I laid on the bed, I started to pray. I said “Lord Jesus, you said ask and you shall receive. Lord Jesus, you asked me to come to Lawe Deski to help the children and the poor people to rebuild their church and school buildings. I haven’t finished the job yet. Tomorrow I have to see the children, the construction of the church and the school buildings, return back to see the Archbishops, and to bring medical aid and training here. Lord, Jesus, Please bring me home to Susie, Mother Mary, please protect me and bring me home to Susie. I said this three times, until exhausted I could only just whisper and say “Mother Mary…Jesus…please bring me home to Susie...” I continued with the rest of my Rosary and the Hail Mary’s…and then started to palpate my abdomen, to try to arrive at a diagnosis. I knew that I did not have cirrhosis and varices because one month ago I had seen my own liver scan and it was normal. Could it be a cancerous lump in my stomach or intestines? I could find no lumps. My own conclusions were that this acute bleeding was due to acute erosions in the duodenum or just below it, and not stomach, as I would have vomited the blood out.

On deep prodding of the middle of my upper abdomen, I identified three finger points of tenderness which were not there before. Pressing the fingers firmly down, I prayed. “Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, help me, I am in deep trouble and bleeding very badly. Lord Jesus, please go in through these three finger points, find the bleeding areas and stop them. Father, I ask this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “Tired, I settled to whisper. “ My Father, you who art in heaven.. You who have created me …help me..help …me…help me..”

About a minute later, I prodded the three tender areas, and there was no more tenderness. Even harder pressure produced no discomfort. I wondered could this be true? As I continued with “My Father… I saw the vision of Jesus and Mother Mary standing on His left side, and they were both smiling and very loving. Their communications were, “Don’t be afraid, I am bringing you home to Susie”…and the message continued “Don’t be afraid. I am bringing you home to Susie” and they both continued to smile lovingly.
 

Just then my mobile rang. There was an SMS message which had just got through from Susie. She asks “How are you? (I was not sure anyone in our group had contacted her.)
So I replied
 “Groggy”. Jesus says He is bringing me home to Susie.
She replies “U mean U have upset stomach?
 I said “Yes”
She replies “Will boil bird nest soup for you and Sheng fei”
I reply “Tun Tan” (Steam egg)
She replies, “Ask and U shall receive”
After that I switched off my mobile to conserve the battery.

I slept through the night, only to be troubled by mosquitoes buzzing over my right and left ears. Having failed to get rid of them by insect repellants, I said a prayer “Lord, help me to get some sleep and send these mosquitoes away”   Mark would later say, when the mosquitoes left me, they went to him.
 

Saturday 25th March 2006
 I woke up more refreshed. In the morning I had passed well formed tarry but less bloody stool. My companion commented that my face was pinker. I took a banana and some special supplements Jeannie gave me and mixed this with water from my flask. At 8.00am we celebrated the Feast day Mass of the Annunciation of our Lord. It was such a joy to see the 800 children aged from 8-15 years, in their uniform coming into the new church. They sang so loud and so passionately, especially at the end when we all sang the hymn to our Lady of Fatima. After that our team inspected the “Volcanic bomb shelter under the alter of the Church, which would be the Churches Communication Center (with the 20 second hand computers we would be sending to them) and a Malteser International would help to train.
I found the walking around the 4 acre ground tiring and breathless, and had to make several stops. After cutting short our departure and receiving farewell Batik linen wear as a token of their love, affection and thanks, we left for the journey back to Medan. Along the route I continued to say my Rosary. At Brastafi, we stopped at 3.00pm and had lunch at the Mutiara Hotel, where I had Mushroom soup, Milo, and soup Meehoon. At 7.00pm we arrived at Medan, and went to eat durians at some of the best road side stalls. We stayed at the Tiara Medan Hotel.
 

Sunday 26th March 2006
Throughout the night and before sleeping I said the Rosary, and prayed. “Lord Jesus, Mother Mary bring me home to Susie. When I read the Good News Bible, I read the section “Ask and you shall receive (Matthew 7, 7-13). Though weak, I drank some milo and took plain porridge. At the 10.00am Mass at the new Church of Velankanni, I gave my testimony to explain how God had saved me at Lawe Deski and had stopped the bleeding. Fr James gives me Holy water from the well which quenches my thirst.

At lunch, Fr Freitz Tambunan, Director of Caritas Medan gave us a farewell lunch and at 3.30pm we met Archbishop of Aceh and he thanks us for the help which we have given to his home town. At 8.20pm, we catch our SilkAir flight home, and arrive at 11.00pm. I immediately called my two Gastroenterologist colleagues but they were not contactable.
Susie and Anna were both at the airport to meet us. I was so happy to see Susie, and gave her a kiss and hug.
 

Monday 27th March 2006
My Consultant Surgeon and colleague Dr Ho Soon Teik, does an urgent gastroscopy on me, and finds six acute duodenal ulcers, which had stopped bleeding. As my blood pressure was low ( BP 70 systolic), I was transfused with 3 liters of dextrose saline, and my younger brother Dr.Oon Chong Hau was called in by Susie  to co- manage my blood pressure, and diabetes. Amazingly not only was my blood pressure controlled without medications, but even my diabetes improved. They estimated that I had lost 5 pints of blood. Both Soon Teik and Chong Hau told me if my Hb was less than 9 Gms/( normal is . 13.6 – 17.) I would need to be transfused. When it came back as 9.2 I agreed to be transfused, and drowsily watched the precious blood going down the drip and in the prayer of Simeon “Lord, you can let your servant close his eyes, for I have seen the Glory of your Salvation” (Luke2,29-32).
 
In the quietness of the VIP room which  the hospital had placed me, my nursing colleagues, doctors, and Susie’s special chicken soups and fish porridge helped and nursed me to back to recovery.

As I reflected many times in the solitude of prayer and thanksgiving, I cried many times for that precious gift of life from God, and remembered what Elizabeth had said to Mary “ Blessed are you who believes that what God had promised would come true
( Luke 1,45).

 I was discharged on the Thurs 30th March 2006. I would need a re scope in one month to see whether these acute ulcers have healed.
 

Postscript:

I felt like a crucified Christ wracked with severe pains in my right elbow, wrist, foot , hip and side, and felt like a crucified Christ  as I could not take any analgesics. This severe pain was due to sand fly bites which had caused the acute arthritis and gout, and was relieved by colchicines , bengues’ and voltaren cream rubbed three times daily by Susie.

On the 27th April, Dr. Ho Soon Teik, my colleague, re-scoped me, and   found no trace of any erosions or bleeding spots. I am healed completely ! “Praise be to God, for He has  saved a  man from death( Psalm 116).