Mrs. Sam Sack's Full House

What led to this "holy discontent?"

When I heard about the first Volunteers in Mission trip to Honduras in 2004, I knew I had to go.  When I left, I knew I would have to go back someday.  Later that year, on Christmas day, in fact, we found out we were expecting our 4^th child.  Just as morning sickness FINALLY waned, I came down with what I thought was the worst flu of my life.  I was 16 weeks pregnant.  I started running a fever, went to my doctor, and spent about four days in bed feeling like I had run a marathon, and then gotten hit by a truck.  My fever kept skyrocketing above 103 degrees; I had uncontrollable, seizure-like shakes.  Then on my second trip to the E.R. I somehow, in a round about way, mentioned Honduras.  The doctor immediately began asking me questions and when he asked, “Did you get bitten by any mosquitoes?” I knew immediately that I was lying there pregnant, with malaria.  It had been dormant for nine months, and the pregnancy suppressed my immune system enough to allow it to enter my blood stream.

What was the turning point?  What made you start to do something about it?

It took months to recover and build my strength up, so I read a lot about malaria during that time.  I learned that more people die from malaria than from AIDS.  I learned that pregnant women and children under 5 are the most susceptible.  I also learned, that there’s only a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting malaria from Central America.   Weird stuff happens to me!  I read about simple, insecticide-treated bed nets being the easiest way to prevent malaria.  But that was as far as I got, until…I saw an Oprah show.  She ended her show on child slavery with “What story haunts you and won’t let you go until you do something about it.”  I turned off the T.V. and said out loud to myself, “My story. My story won’t let me go,” because it’s the story of 3,000 children that died the day I gave birth to a precious, overdue, HEALTHY baby boy we named Jacob!  3,000 mothers every day hold their children while they die of malaria just because they live on the other side of the ocean.  It shouldn’t be.  Malaria is preventable.  It’s treatable.  And we in America know nothing about it, because it doesn’t affect us.  And that gets me riled up!  God doesn’t want me to just thank him that Jacob and I survived, He wants me to shout it from the rooftops that we can save His suffering people!

So, what are you doing about it?

Well, after weeks of research I finally found an organization that does what I’ve thinking about for the last two years.  It’s called Nothing but Nets.net and it raises money to send bed nets to Africa – for $10.  So, the first thing I did was email Mark Roach (our worship leader who’s an up and coming artist) and said, “Hey, you’re going to be asked to pick a cause like World Vision or Invisible Children, and I want to get to you first.  You’ve got to let the world know about malaria.”  I started a team with Nothing but Nets and called it “Jacob’s Ladder” and set a goal to raise $30,000.  That will save one day’s worth of children.  I was telling my dad about my goal and about to say, “I hope I’ve not set it so high that I get disappointed,” but before I could my dad said, “That’s OK to start small.  You can always set higher goals!”  So much for thinking small! 

The President has declared April 25 as Malaria Awareness Day and American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back” charity event will benefit Nothing But Nets, so I’m working on press releases for local media and churches.  I’ve been writing my story out for magazines and I’m planning fundraisers for Nothingbutnets.  I’m working on a class to teach school children about Africa and encourage them to get together with friends and neighbors to raise $10 for a bed net.  I’m also going back to Honduras in June and can’t wait!  And I’m taking the malaria preventatives this time!  Oh, and I’m going to write Oprah, too!

A mosquito bit me.

I know you want more info than that, right?  Well, in June of 2004 I went on a life-changing, eye-opening, God-revealing mission trip to Honduras through Volunteers In Mission (VIM).  We worked, prayed, taught, built, and most importantly experienced the God of the Universe in such a tangible way. 

And got bitten by a few mosquitoes.  Actually, I got a few.  A teenage girl on our trip got dozens.  So within a couple weeks of our return to Missouri, she came down with awful flu-like symptoms and soon discovered it was malaria (after her mother’s all-important confession to her doctor of having been in Central America).  Since only a few of us took the malaria preventatives, I decided to get tested, just in case. Negative! Whew!

Fast forward 6 months to Dec., 2004, Christmas day.  A different kind of test was positive, and we found out we would be welcoming a fourth child to the world.  What a joy!  Merry Christmas!

Fast forward 3 months to Mar., 2005.  I felt the flu coming on in a matter of hours, called my doctor, and rested, drank fluids, and tried to keep my fever down.  However, with fever soaring at nearly 104 degrees after nearly a week, I made a second trip to the ER where I actually mentioned that all important word "Honduras."  The doctor asked, "Did you get any mosquito bites while you were in Honduras?"  Finally, it all made sense.  Those "few" mosquito bites were literally less than 10.  I guess it doesn’t take much.

So here’s how malaria works.  It enters your blood stream through a mosquito bite (or 10) and travels to your liver.  It can lay dormant for years there if your immune system can keep it suppressed.  But, in pregnancy your immune system lowers which, in my case, allowed the malaria to reproduce and move into the blood.  That’s when you start showing symptoms and can get a positive test result.  Now I know.

There’s only a 1 in 10,000 chance of contracting malaria in Central America.

I’ll be returning to Honduras in June 2007 on another VIM trip!

I’ll take the malaria preventative this time!