Mishael

Mishael Larios Ramirez is 9 years old and just completed third grade. He and his family live in the town of Minas de Oro (“Gold Mines”), located in prime mountainous coffee country, several hours from Comayagua. His parents heard about the May 2005 surgical mission through their pastor, Fr. Richard Gancayco, a US missionary priest serving in the diocese of Comayagua and a friend of the Friars. Like many rural Hondurans, Mr. Ramirez is a farmer who raises crops to support his wife and five children.

Mishael, accompanied by his father and older brother who is deaf, arrived at SBJ on Monday, May 16th, along with several hundred other potential patients. Later that week he underwent a successful surgical procedure performed by Dr. Paul Radway of Colorado.

He recovered quickly and without complications, and Fr. Gancayco was pleased to report that Mishael was back out playing on the soccer field four weeks after his operation.

The St. Benedict Joseph Medical Center publicizes its free medical services and surgical missions through the network of Catholic parishes and satellite village chapels that extends throughout the country, as well as through a similar network of Evangelical churches, making use also of Catholic, Evangelical and secular radio broadcasts, newspapers and the Honduran public health system.