A New Face for Mailyn

AS TOLD BY MAILYN’S MOTHER

Why did Mailyn, my lovely 11-year-old daughter, need a new face? Let me explain.

Mailyn is the second of my two daughters. She was born in Holguín, Cuba, on August 5, 1992. Her father, her sister, and I were very happy about her arrival. But our happiness was soon interrupted. A few days after her birth, I came down with chicken pox, and a month later, Mailyn caught it.

At first, her condition did not seem to be too serious; but it got worse, and she had to be hospitalized. Mailyn received good medical attention, but her immune system had been weakened to such an extent that she contracted an infection. I noticed a strange reddening on one side of her little nose. The doctors identified the cause as a rare, very aggressive type of bacterium.

In spite of the antibiotics that were immediately administered, in a matter of days, the bacteria began to destroy her face. By the time the doctors were able to contain it, Mailyn had almost completely lost her nose, lips, and parts of her gum and chin. She also had perforations at the side of one eye.

When my husband and I saw her, we broke down in tears. How could something like this happen to our little girl? Mailyn was in intensive care for several days, and the doctors thought that she would not survive. My husband kept telling me, “Get ready for the worst.” However, when I put my hand into the incubator to take Mailyn’s little hand, she would grip mine so strongly that I knew she was going to survive. I told my husband: “Our daughter is not going to die. But in her condition, what kind of life will Mailyn lead?” Each morning when we awoke, we thought that perhaps it was all just a nightmare.

While we were at the hospital, our older daughter, Maydelis, who was then six years old, stayed with my parents. She was anxiously waiting for her little sister to come back home. She had seen Mailyn leave the house as a beautiful “doll” with large blue eyes. But when Maydelis next saw her baby sister, Mailyn looked monstrous.

‘Why Does My Baby Have to Suffer So Much?’

After a month and a half in the hospital, Mailyn was released. We did not return to our home in the city because we did not want anyone to see her. We isolated ourselves in a cottage in the countryside, next to my parents’ farm.

In the beginning, I was able to give Mailyn breast milk in small amounts through the opening in her face where her mouth had been. She could not suck. However, when the lesions began to heal, that opening almost closed. I could only give her liquefied foods in a bottle. When she was a year old, we returned to Holguín, where the doctors performed four operations to widen the opening.

 I would ask myself, ‘Why does my baby have to suffer so much?’ I sought the answer in spiritistic centers and prayed to my religious images. But nothing gave me any comfort. The painful remarks of some relatives and friends confused me even more. Some said, “God knows why he allows these things.” Others told me, “Surely, it is a punishment from God.” I also worried a lot about what I would say to Mailyn when she grew older. Once, while she was yet very small, Mailyn asked her father, “Why don’t I have a nose like everyone else?” Her father could not answer and went outside to cry. I tried to explain to her what had happened. She still remembers that I used to say that a little bug had eaten her nose and mouth.

A Basis for Hope

Just when I was feeling the most frustrated, I remembered that my neighbor was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I asked her to show me from the Bible why God permitted my little daughter to suffer so much. I also asked, “If this illness is really a punishment from God for something I have done, why does Mailyn have to pay for it?”

My neighbor began to study the Bible with me, using the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. * Little by little, I began to understand that God is not to blame for what happened to Mailyn and that he truly cares for us. (James 1:13; 1 Peter 5:7) I began to appreciate the marvelous hope that under the rule of his heavenly Kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ, suffering will be eliminated. (Matthew 6:9, 10; Revelation 21:3, 4) This knowledge strengthened me and moved me to attend the Christian meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. At first, my husband did not like my new spiritual inclination. However, he did not stop me from studying the Bible, as long as it helped me to cope with our tragedy.

Help From Abroad

When Mailyn was two years old, an eminent plastic surgeon in Mexico learned about her case and offered to treat her free of charge. The first operations were performed in 1994. Mailyn and I stayed in Mexico for almost a year. In the beginning we were not able to contact Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we could not attend Christian meetings. This weakened me spiritually. Then, one of  the local Witnesses contacted us, and we began to associate again with fellow believers as often as possible. Upon returning to Cuba, I resumed my Bible study and recovered spiritually.

At that time my husband was still not interested in the Bible. In an effort to arouse his interest, I began to ask him to read me some parts of Bible-based publications so that I could understand them better. Eventually he was moved to accept a Bible study, for he was concerned that the repeated lengthy trips to Mexico might damage our family relationship. He thought that being united spiritually would help us to bear these periods of separation better. And it did. My husband, my oldest daughter, and I were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1997.

During our first few stays in Mexico, Mailyn would say that if the little bug had not eaten her face, we would not have to be separated from her daddy and her sister. It was heartrending to have to separate the family for such long periods of time. However, I remember one particular visit to the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Mexico, called Bethel, that greatly lifted our spirits. Mailyn had been saying that she did not want to be operated on again​—for the fifth time during that stay—​because the healing process was so painful. But some Witnesses who were serving at the branch office told her that if she was brave and allowed the doctors to operate, they would have a party for her when she got out of the hospital. So she agreed to the operation.

Let Mailyn describe her feelings: “I was thrilled about the idea of having a party at Bethel. So I was very brave during surgery. The party was exciting, with so many spiritual brothers and sisters. They gave me many cards, which I still have. The encouragement that I received gave me the strength to endure the next operations.”

Progress and Help to Endure

Mailyn, now 11 years old, has undergone 20 surgeries to reconstruct her face. Although she has been helped greatly, it is still impossible for her to open her mouth completely. However, she has always had a courageous, positive attitude. She has also shown much appreciation for spiritual things. Since the age of six, she has been enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School at our local congregation, and she was baptized on April 27, 2003. She has conducted as many as three Bible studies at a time. Once, while in Mexico, she spoke to a gentleman who agreed to have her study the Bible with him. Mailyn invited him to the Memorial of Christ’s death and to other congregation meetings, which he attended with much interest.

When Mailyn preaches from house to house, some people look at her face and ask her if she got burned. Mailyn takes advantage of the opportunity to share her Bible-based hope that Jehovah will give her a new face in the coming Paradise.​—Luke 23:43.

The pain that Mailyn has suffered from the operations and from the mockery of other children is indescribable. What has helped her to endure? Mailyn answers with assurance: “Jehovah is very real to me. He gives me the strength and courage to bear up. I don’t want any more operations because the doctors can’t do much for me now. They will never be able to make me like I was when I was born. But I know that Jehovah is going to give me a new face in the new world and that I will be pretty again.”

[Footnote]

[Blurb on page 26]

“Jehovah is going to give me a new face in the new world”

[Blurb on page 27]

Little by little, I began to understand that God is not to blame