Determined. That is the best word to describe John Kelly. I know, I know. If you look at my blog postings, at least 40% of them include a reference to or direct praise of John Kelly. Sorry, I cant help it. This guy is superhuman and the closest thing to “hero” I have had the pleasure of personally witnessing.

When Shannon and I returned from checking out of the hotel and into the home of a Kitovu-trained doctor, John was still seated exactly where I left him…3 hours earlier. He never, ever, ever gives up. “No hope? ahhh, there's always hope.” I can still hear his voice echo as he faces down what other doctors would call a lost cause. You see, some surgeons don’t want to stain their success rate with a failed attempt on a hopeless case. John doesn’t actually know what that phrase, “hopeless case” means – he just can’t comprehend the absence of possibility. Even in the most desperate cases, where a woman has lost most of her soft tissue and retains only tatters of her excretory system, John will step up and give it a try if he thinks he can help her live a better life. Maybe not a perfect life, but an improved existence – maybe even a tolerable one. It is in these catastrophic circumstances that Kelly morphs into determination personified – the best, the only chance at a livable life for women no one else will help. So was the case when I found John sitting sweaty and undeterred, with a lap full of surgical tools and a confident focus beneath his half-tied mask. “Almost done,” he smiled.

After he finished up, John invited me for a tea in the break room. We chatted a short catch up over the warm brew and I lost John as he noticed the next patient roll past the open door. “Make sure you get enough to eat,” he demanded as he rushed out the door waving, “those doughnuts are good.”

I completely understood – John was off to save another life and there was no time to spare.