A heartening recovery in the face of a daunting ailment

Apr 21, 2013 News

– ‘Teacher Sally’ believes she was mercifully spared

By Sharmain Grainger

Most people are plunged into deep despair when a relative or close friend suddenly passes away, but being bluntly told by a medical professional that your time on earth could elapse in two years is no less comforting.
The latter scenario was in fact the experience of Bibi Salima Ramnauth, who during the prime of her life was diagnosed with a heart condition which saw her visiting several doctors, none of whom had anything heartening to share.

A smiling ‘Teacher Sally’ relaxing at her Long Pond, West Bank Demerara, home.

Ramnauth, known as ‘Sister Selena’ and ‘Teacher Sally’, at the age of 40 was leading a pretty normal life as she was happily married, with a daughter, and was employed as a kindergarten teacher at the Sisters Village Nursery School. She was in fact born and raised in the West Bank Village of Goed Intent and was only too happy to be educating young children, some of whom she knew well.
But her health experience was one that would not only alter her lifestyle but even force her to consider pre-mature retirement.
She recalled during an interview that her condition was something that wasn’t detected easily, as back in the day there was no local Heart Institute with modern equipment. In fact she disclosed that she was subjected to several tests before doctors were able to give her a definitive assessment. This was, however, not before being treated for various problems.
But her condition was one that had a long course of development as since in the 1980s ‘Teacher Sally’ remembers developing a respiratory problem.
“I noticed I had a breathing problem a while back and I did go to a doctor, but she didn’t pick up anything,” she recounted. In fact she was referred to now deceased Pulmonologist, Dr Moti Lall, as it was believed that her symptoms were similar to that of an asthma patient. He too would subject ‘Teacher Sally’ to a number of tests which did not ascertain her true condition. However some medication was prescribed and before long it would appear as though her condition was appeased.
She remembers that it was with excruciating chest pain and being almost unable to breathe that she was brought to the realisation that her condition was far from over.
It all began on a quiet afternoon, in June of 1992, when ‘Teacher Sally’ had just returned home from school. She and her family had made plans to resurface their concrete yard, but the contractor had indicated that the old concrete would first have to be broken. As she was home early that day she decided to commence the process. And so with hammer in hand, she started intense manual labour. All was going well up until she became overwhelmed with exhaustion and by nightfall breathing was difficult and pains to her chest had surfaced.
Recognising that nothing could have been done at home to address her condition, an informed decision was made by close family friends to rush her to the Georgetown Public Hospital. An intern who, was in fact the brother of her school’s principal, decided that she should be referred to Dr Roger Luncheon (now Head of the Presidential Secretariat) who was at the time practicing medicine at the public hospital. He instructed that a series of tests be done on ‘Teacher Sally’ which included a number of x-rays.
“They x-rayed me all around…In those days they didn’t have ultrasound, so it was a lot of x-rays they did on me,” she recalled. After the tests a number of other doctors who were attending to her diagnosed the common problem of angina.
Angina is described as chest pain due to ischemia (a decrease in the blood supply to a bodily organ, tissue or part caused by constriction or obstruction of the blood vessels) of the heart muscle. Medical experts say that this condition is often due to obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries.
Still experiencing severe chest pain, ‘Teacher Sally’ was required to return to Dr Luncheon who calmly explained to her that the air sacs in her lungs had collapsed. The lack of the necessary equipment had restricted him from measuring the amount of air in her lungs, thus he recommended that she travel abroad for further medical attention.
Unable to finance such a move, ‘Teacher Sally’ decided to seek medical care at Dr Hanoman’s clinic. She remembers being attending to by Dr Hanoman himself and requesting that he be honest with her about her health.
“I said Doctor, tell me the truth about my condition. I am a Christian…I can handle it…And he too told me about the angina problem and he explained how the arteries were blocked and that was giving the shortness of breath…” Dr Hanoman also told her that the operation needed to rectify her problem could only be done overseas and would have required about $1 million.
Contented that the medical professionals were correct in their diagnosis, ‘Teacher Sally’ continued to seek treatment for her pain at Dr Hanoman. She recalled that another medical professional, after carefully examining her x-rays, offered her the shocking pronouncement of ‘if you take it easy you will live about two years, but if you harass your body you will live for about six months’.
Her condition would worsen so much so that she became bedridden. There was in fact need to customise a bed so as to ensure that she remained in a position that would allow her to breathe without much difficulty.
“I was like in a straitjacket, day and night” she explained, adding that “sometimes my husband and daughter would hug me up and we would cry, because it is only when you know that the end is near that you really appreciate life…I actually knew the end could have been anything,” ‘Teacher Sally’ reflected.
She remembers how a number of her colleague teachers and pastors would visit and sincerely pray for her recovery, which in fact motivated her and her family to depend a lot more on prayers.
Despite the unceasing prayers for her recovery, ‘Teacher Sally’ vividly recalled one day when she thought her time had finally elapsed. She was home alone at the time and her breathing rate intensified, and it was as if she was spinning uncontrollably through a dark tunnel towards a light, she explained.
“I don’t know if I was sub-conscious or conscious, but I do know I was spinning in this tunnel and I somehow believed that I was going to die. I started begging God to have mercy on me and spare my life for my daughter’s sake and then I just started feeling like I was coming back; I was even breathing better after that experience,” she said.
Prayers became the hallmark of each moment of her day, as according to ‘Teacher Sally’ she was determined to see her Creator heal her.
“I wanted to see my daughter get married; I wanted to see my grandchildren,” she related. And it was after three full months of being bed-ridden, ‘Teacher Sally’ made, what doctors have now described as, a full recovery, having undergone absolutely no surgical operation. In fact, a very vibrant ‘Teacher Sally’ confidently disclosed to me that she is no longer required to take any form of medication adding that “I’m not dying any premature death; otherwise I would have been gone already. When I die it is because God is ready for me.” Her prayer, more than 20 years after her miraculous recovery, is that she would see her two grandsons complete their schooling.
“I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t do anything for myself for months, but I believe that it was because of the prayers that God raised me up and has been keeping me all along…” said an inspired ‘Teacher Sally’ who insists that “if persons, sick or not, believe and trust in God, He will never fail you. Once you serve Him and put your confidence in Him even when your faith is shaken, He will see you through.”
She noted that she has over the years constantly appealed to persons to never give up, regardless of the situations that might confront them, since according to her “nothing can happen to you if God doesn’t permit it…I believe I defied death because I wanted to live and I believe God answered my prayers as well as all those who prayed for me.”
Following her recovery, ‘Teacher Sally’ was not only able to return to her teaching career, touching the lives of children at the Vreed-en-Hoop Number One Nursery School and the Canal Number Two Polder Nursery, but she was able to retire at the mandatory age of 55.