Doctor Wanted to Repay Being 'Fortunate'

              The Times Shreveport/Bossier
Page 17
Sunday, Jan. 9, 1983
By KATHIE COFFEY
The Times
COLTON Bradshaw has always been impressed with
missionaries. Albert Schweitzer is his hero.
So when Bradshaw finished his pediatric residency at
LSU Medical Center last year, it seemed the natural time
for him to fulfill his dream of going to a faraway country
to serve for awhile.
"Call it a witness or whatever you want," he said of the
need he felt to give something in return for the "for-tunate"
life he's led.
Bradshaw signed up for a year as a special projects
medical worker with the Southern Baptist Convention's
Foreign Mission Board, and was assigned to Ogbomosho,
Nigeria.
He was scheduled to leave the first of August, but then
things started to go wrong.
Seven days before he was scheduled to leave, an old oil
field injury to his eye flared up with blurred vision,
necessitating laser surgery and postponing his departure.
And then there was an added disappointment. After
marrying his long-time girlfriend — a nurse — Bradshaw
learned that Foreign Mission Board rules prevent new-ly
weds from going overseas until they have been married
a year.
"They feel the stress of a new marriage coupled with
the stress of a new culture is probably not the best way
to start a marriage," Bradshaw said.
Rather than give up realizing his dream for at least
another year, Bradshaw switched his classification to
short-term volunteer.
"I didn't have a year to wait," he said. "Once you get pa-tients
you don't want to leave them for a long period of
time."
, However, the new classification meant that Bradshaw
would be responsible for his own expenses instead of be-ing
paid by the Foreign Mission Board. Fortunately, he
had just sold his house and had an understanding wife who
was willing to stay behind and work to help with expenses.
Map shows Nigeria, where Bradshaw
worked
Weddings 18,19
Changing Times , 19
Ancestor Hunting 23
Medical
mission
crystal clear Ethiope River, and visited a leper colony
called the "promised land" by its formerly ostracized in-habitants.
Leaving the medical center in December was a "bit-tersweet"
experience for Bradshaw.
"I could see so much left to be done," he said.
In addition to teaching others, Bradshaw said the trip
has been a learning experience for him as well.
"I learned that I could cope with just about any situ-ation,"
he said.
And with so much exposure to death, he feels better
prepared for handling it.
"I've always prided myself in being able to talk with
Doctor wanted to repay being 'fortunate'
"It's something he's always wanted to do and 1 was will-ing
to support him in that," Mrs. Bradshaw said.
So Bradshaw finally left Sept. 13 for a three-month
stint at the Baptist Medical Center in Ogbomosho, a city
of 400,000 with no television station, radio station or
newspaper.
It's an experience he'll never forget.
The availability of oxygen, electricity and water was
sporadic. Drugs, equipment and other supplies were lim-ited.
"That was the hardest part for me — not being able to
use skills because of lack of technology," Bradshaw said.
The first week there, five babies died because no
glucose was in their IVs, he said.
"One of the best things I did was getting that (the
babies' need for glucose) across," Bradshaw said.
When Bradshaw arrived at the medical center, the 30-
bed pediatric unit was losing five to six children a week.
When he left, the death rate was down to about two to
three a week.
"It was an emotional trauma I had to go through," he
said.
An added liability for the doctors was the reluctance on
the part of the people to go to the hospital at the first sign
of illness.
"Granny got the first crack, the native doctor was sec-ond
and the hospital third," he said.
Consequently, the hospital saw a lot of native drug
poisoning. For example, Bradshaw said the native treat-ment
for seizures was cow's urine, which often gave the
patient hypoglycemia, sending him into a coma.
Of the 23 children who died at the hospital in October,
Bradshaw said 49 percent died within the first four hours
after being admitted, and 71 percent died within the first
24 hours they were there.
He recalled the low point of the entire trip.
"I lost four kids in four hours," Bradshaw said. "That
just really ripped me up. It still hurts to think about it. I
could have saved three of them here."
But if the trip had painful times, it also had its bright
ones.
A 4-year-old child named Sunday became Bradshaw's
"pet," he said. The boy came in with pus behind his eyes,
which resulted in bulging eyes and a high fever.
"I thought he was going to die," he said.
After diagnosing the problem, Bradshaw found he had
just the right medicine to treat it. It took six weeks, but
when the child left, his eyes were normal.
"That made you feel real good," Bradshaw re-membered.
He also recalled a baby who had been in a coma for a
week before he got there, but woke up three days later
after being treated for different things and was able to
leave the hospital a week later.
Away from the hospitals, Bradshaw also had a formal
audience with the king of Ogbomosho, floated down the
Bradshaw (left) at the city's hospital
parents about death," he said. "I didn't find it an enjoyable
job, but I found a way to explain. But I had never been
faced with so much death before. Through that, I think I'm
better prepared."
And he learned that "the Lord takes care of you"
through the many "miracles" he saw there, such as medi-cine
and equipment arriving at just the right time or
through unexpected avenues.
Now that his adventure is over, Bradshaw plans to go
into practice in Mount Pleasant, Texas. However, the
missionary fever is not out of his blood. He hopes that in
four to five years — when his practice is solid enough —
he'll be able to take off a month or two every few years
for more short-term service.
And this time, he'll take his wife because there was
something else he learned from his trip.
"I learned I never want to leave my wife that long
again," he said.
E PEOPLE