Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Transforming Pain to Purpose Part 1

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Transforming Pain to Purpose Part 1 · Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh

• 0:35
  Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of chatting with the experts
• 0:41
  TV show hosted by me, Paula Okonneh.
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  Every week I bring to you an incredible woman.
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  A woman that fascinates me and I know you with her story.
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  But even more so...
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  she fascinates you by what she brings to the table.
• 1:01
  The mission of this show is to inspire, is to empower, and is to educate each one of
• 1:08
  you that tune in or listen, because I do have a podcast, and today is no exception.
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  I have an incredible guest and I'll tell you a bit about her.
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  Her name is Dr.
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  Irene Olumese and she's an author, an inspirational speaker, she's a
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  Bible study teacher and a certified faith informed professional
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  transformational trauma coach.
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  She is the founder and executive director of the Feet To grace Foundation.
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  As the founder and executive director of the Feet To Grace Foundation,
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  which is a charity organization that provides prosthetic rehabilitation
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  services for amputees in Nigeria.
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  Irene facilitates amputees emotional well-being and empowerment.
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  She is the author of Grace In The Storm, a living proof, and she's
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  driven by a desire to help people live victorious lives, irrespective
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  of the storms they face, and to make their pain count as gain for others.
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  Her book, fifty five chapters of God's grace is a compendium of God inspired
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  lessons that Christians must imbibe to take full delivery of God's promises
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  and manifest His purpose here on earth.
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  Our topic is going to be Transforming Pain to Purpose, Power, and Profit.
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  And with that, I welcome my guest, Dr.
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  Irene Olumese
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  thank you very much, Paula.
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  Thank you.
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  It's a pleasure and a honor to be with you this evening.
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  Thank you.
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  I am honored that you are my guest because you inspire me and that's
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  one of the reasons I wanted to have you on because if you inspire
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  me, I know you can inspire others.
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  So, as you, my listeners and viewers, the topic is on Transforming
• 3:32
  Pain to Purpose Power and Pain.
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  There's a reason that we have that as the topic.
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  So I'm going to ask Irene, if she's willing to share her story with us.
• 3:46
  Okay.
• 3:48
  Yes, of course.
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  And thank you once again, Paula.
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  I will try to do a mother of all summary of my story.
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  I'm a lung transplant survivor and a bilateral amputee now.
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  How did we get to that?
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  So, I lived for 20 years with a chronic respiratory disease
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  called myasthenia gravis.
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  Mm-Hmm.
• 4:09
  Uh, sorry, . I lived with a chronic respiratory disease
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  called bronch metastasis and a debilitating neuromuscular
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  disease called myasthenia gravis.
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  And we got the indication that something was wrong at 1993, when I started coughing
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  and fast forward to June, 1993, I had to have the first surgery on my lungs and
• 4:35
  my chest tracheotomy and fist assist.
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  The size of my fist was sticking out from between my heart and my lungs.
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  And we thought that was the end of the story, but no, that just opened up a
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  new, a complex syndrome that kept me coughing nonstop for the next 20 years.
• 4:57
  Oh my word.
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  I mean, it was literally coughing every day and with everything
• 5:03
  else that came with it.
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  We did not quite know what we were dealing with.
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  What was all of this?
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  I got a diagnosis in 1997 when my doctors actually gave a name to it in UCH
• 5:17
  Nigeria, and I needed a second opinion, so I went to Ohio Medical Center in U.
• 5:21
  S., and I got a second opinion, and it was exactly what my doctors in Nigeria
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  had told me, and the added information was that depending on the progression
• 5:32
  of the two combined diseases that I may end up in the wheelchair within
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  the next five years, unable to do my basic daily care, even of myself.
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  But in the midst of all of this, I had two sons.
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  I also completed my doctorate and I was working with an
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  international organization.
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  And so when we got this diagnosis all my friends asked me, you need
• 5:54
  to stay back in the United States.
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  And I said, no, not without my family, I have good job.
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  I have medical insurance.
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  I get my medications and I'm going back home.
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  And that was exactly what I did, because for me I did not want this
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  situation to redefine my identity.
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  Or to define how we're going to live as a family.
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  And I was not ready to be in any country where I couldn't have my family with me.
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  I had two young sons.
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  And so I went back home to Nigeria at that time and continued working.
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  And in 2001, I got an international appointment with my organization
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  and I was transferred to Ghana.
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  And while I was working in Ghana, another region of Ghana that lungs collapsed.
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  And so I was in a place where there was no medical facilities to take care of
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  me and I could not be flown anywhere because of the state of my lungs.
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  And so, my organization tried to get me to Burkina Faso, which is five hours drive.
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  They said, no, don't bring her because we don't have facility to take care of her.
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  So they put me in an ambulance.
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  No oxygen, no air conditioner, 10 and a half hours from Tamale to Accra.
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  It's still a miracle how I made it alive.
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  And after spending about six weeks in a hospital in Accra, having the poor
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  effusion drained and all of that, I had a tube inserted in my, on my side and
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  things were not making any difference.
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  I had to be medevacked to Switzerland.
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  My husband was already working here with WHO and it just made sense
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  that I should be brought here.
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  And so I came here in 2003, exactly 10 years after the first surgery and
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  had the second surgery on my lungs.
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  At this time, I was in a managerial position in my organization and I was
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  looking at breaking into management and it wasn't quote unquote an ideal
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  time for a woman, a professional woman to be coming out of work.
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  And I thought I'd always run with this policy that a woman has a multiple
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  role of reproduction and production.
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  And she should be able to manage both.
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  And she should have an enabling environment to manage both.
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  I should not have to sacrifice one for the other.
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  But at this point in my life, I had to make a critical life changing decision
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  to come out of work, to take care of myself and relocate my children
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  to Switzerland and settle them here.
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  And it was now not only having to deal with my medical situation, I
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  also had to deal with significant financial challenges as well.
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  Yes,
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  I think that we had made plans on the basis of our two salaries.
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  We bought a house, took a mortgage, took a loan to pay the 20 percent that is
• 8:48
  required by Switzerland, which you have to bring from outside as a foreigner.
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  And all of this was happening in the midst of raising my
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  young boys, managing my house.
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  And just try to find a balance, where do I go from here?
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  I had put so much into my career, it was a dream career,
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  and I really wanted to excel.
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  And I knew I was doing a real good job, but where do I go from here?
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  Well, I came out of work and spent the next couple, three years literally, having
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  hot palpitations at the end of each month, you know, when the bill starts running in.
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  So the financial challenges was really intense.
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  I mean, it was as bad as the bank declaring my account delinquent because
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  I couldn't make my payment as it was due.
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  I mean, I did everything that I could possibly do.
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  I sold salad masterparts.
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  I tried Hubble Live.
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  I tried Mirka.
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  I mean, just to keep something coming in.
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  Because it was huge bill.
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  We had huge bills coming in.
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  Yes.
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  I fast forward to three years later, 2006.
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  Uh, got provoked a recommendation for me and I was recommended
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  for a position in Cairo.
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  So I packed my bags.
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  Yes.
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  In Cairo, in Egypt.
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  Okay.
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  Packed my bags, left my sons here in Switzerland and went to Cairo.
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  What I was doing was to come home one long weekend every month to, check in on the
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  family and make sure they're doing great.
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  And did that for a year.
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  And then again, I had another relapse in my lungs
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  while you were in Cairo?
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  While I was in Cairo,
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  woah.
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  While I was in Cairo, I was actually flying back into Switzerland
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  for my usual one long weekend.
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  And it became very difficult to breathe mid air.
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  And as soon as we landed, I had to be taken straight to the hospital.
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  And then my doctors told me that my lungs were no longer holding
• 10:58
  sufficient air to give me the amount of oxygen that I needed.
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  So my oxygen saturation was incredibly low.
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  And for them, the only solution was for me to be on oxygen
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  supplementation, 24 hours a day.
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  They were like, okay, how are we going to operationalize this?
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  I have a job to finish in Cairo.
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  I mean, they looked at me and said, are you crazy?
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  What are you talking about here?
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  For me, it's I have a life to live one.
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  And two, I have a policy of when I start something, I need to finish it.
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  Because, I mean, that's something that I've been struggling with all my life.
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  Not having uncompleted projects.
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  And it was also a strategic project I was working on.
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  I couldn't just walk out of it.
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  And it was one that has also been incredibly challenged.
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  And as a Christian, I believe that he who set his hands on the plow and look back
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  is not fit for the Kingdom of God, that one side too, and a Christian and the
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  only Christian in that group, you know, leading that that team and the interesting
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  thing is that all the focus for us.
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  Leading that project, I as an international officer and two other
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  uh, three national office specialists, all of us had significant life
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  threatening challenges in that season.
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  Wow.
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  Oh my God.
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  So for me, it was no longer this was not just
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  natural.
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  Something else was at play.
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  I mean, how could the four of fours, excuse me, How come that
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  one had a fire outbreak at home and sustained a secondary degree burn.
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  One had an accident and broke a limb.
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  And another, you know, an elderly lady who two sisters live
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  together, one died and they've been living together all their lives.
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  And I couldn't come back from Switzerland.
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  So for me, there was more at play.
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  And I had to bring in my Christian perspective here and also had
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  a conversation with my doctors.
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  Look, I need, even if I'm not going to continue to work in Cairo.
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  I must finish this project.
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  I must see it to a logical conclusion.
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  What you need to tell me is what do I have to do to make this happen.
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  But not going back to Cairo to finish is not one of the
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  options I was ready to take.
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  So my doctors looked at me and they definitely thought this woman has lost it.
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  Yes.
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  One of them is an elderly professor and he said to me, look, our
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  treatment that when we relate to the patient, it's always holistic.
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  We know you, we know your passion, we know the way you work and the high
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  premium you put on your profession.
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  We will give you the conditions.
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  And if you can meet all these conditions, we'll allow you to go back and finish
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  and say, give me the conditions.
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  One, I was to have oxygen in my office, oxygen cylinder in my office.
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  Two, I was to have an oxygen cylinder or concentrator in my apartment.
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  Three, I have to have a mobile.
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  And then, there was not a lot of options.
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  And so there was this little canister that I could just spray
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  on, you know, to give me oxygen.
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  And so I, they gave me the three conditions.
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  I sent a message to my friends in back in Cairo to my office
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  that this is my situation.
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  The office agreed for me to have, because I had to have a permission for that.
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  The office agreed for me to have an oxygen canister and a cylinder in the office.
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  And my friend said, look, we're not going to let you stay alone.
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  We will get the oxygen concentrator.
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  We're moving it into our apartment, our own home.
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  And they moved me into their home.
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  It was just, they were just strategically located there to be God's hand supporting
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  me in that challenging season of my life.
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  And they put their driver and car at my disposal.
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  So I could go to work in the morning with my canister sprayed on.
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  I get into the office, I link with my candelor, and I was running my
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  work under the circumstances with literally walking around the clock.
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  And to the glory of God, we were able to complete that
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  project in about seven weeks.
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  And I recall that when we prepared the presentation to the government.
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  Because I'm an international partner supporting the first presentation has
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  to be made by the national partner.
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  So there are two of us lead, and then the supporting specialist.
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  And when the lady, the national coordinator was going to make a
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  presentation, and she said something that has remained with me till today.
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  She said it was by the grace of God and the perseverance of Irene that we
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  have been able to finish this project.
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  And I'm sitting down there and I'm stunned, and all I could say is that
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  God, there is a purpose for this.
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  I don't know why we have to go through all of this, but this is good to leave
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  a lasting impression of this woman, and I pray that will be the turning
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  point for her to become a Christian.
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  And we made the presentation, I made mine, it was applauded, it was well
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  received, submitted the report, I packed my bags at the end of 2007.
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  January 2008, I returned back to Geneva and now I'm coming
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  back to a snow blank agenda.
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  All I had as to take care of myself, nebulize, medicate, respirate.
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  That was it.
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  Just medicating and nebulizing to keep my chest free.
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  And I was doing all of this.
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  All the way to to that towards the end of 2008, I was really bad and I ended up
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  in the ICU and I just couldn't even, I didn't know how we made it through that.
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  Fast forward to and that was too much for me.
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  That was too much.
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  How do you pray?
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  How do you pray?
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  What do you do?
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  And the interesting thing was that this is the same doctor who's been managing
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  me since I got into Switzerland.
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  And he's just been strategically located at the right place at
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  the right time to push my case.
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  He told us that he actually had presented me for lung transplant in
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  2008, and it was thrown out that I had complicated medical history, and
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  they raised tons of questions, and he spent two years going from one
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  respiratory conference to another.
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  Presented my case to get an answer to those questions and it was after
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  he had done that and represented my case that he informed us.
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  So he had done a lot of work on my behalf that we had no clue about.
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  And of course we had to go through the whole Walk up to, to see
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  if I was a suitable candidate.
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  Now, it has to the way Switzerland work, this is specialized center for each
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  different kind of transplant, and the doctors in the other hospital, we're
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  not impressed with my history and didn't think I could be a suitable candidate.
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  So now I had this battle to fight a, well, not me fighting.
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  My doctor's fighting to justify why I should be on a waiting list.
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  No, for saying you didn't think you were a suitable candidate.
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  Did they think that you weren't going to make the surgery?
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  What was the reason?
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  That said that I've had too too many surgeries on my chest.
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  And the fear that there will be attrition.
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  The fear that the process of taking out the old lungs if there is an adhesion,
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  I will bleed to death on the table.
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  And well, that was the main reason they gave me, I don't know what
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  else was going on behind their mind.
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  But it was a struggle because the way that was delivered through really,
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  you know, stripped me of hope, but I refused to give up on hope and
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  I refused to give up on the fight.
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  So my doctors were fighting for me and I was fighting as well.
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  And so I got on the waiting list and waited three years.
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  That's from 2000 and.
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  From 2010 to 2013.
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  And then January, 2013.
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  You know, every time my friends called me, we had a group of
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  friends who were praying along.
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  We just, as soon as I got on the waiting list, we just called up a few friends and
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  told them, this is what we are facing.
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  And we needed them to pray along with us.
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  And all we were asking them to pray is for God to keep me alive until
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  a suitable candidate is found for me, because I simply could not
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  pray that somebody should die.
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  And while I was struggling with that, God led me to Isaiah 43, and it was
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  like because you're precious to me, and I love you, I give Egypt for your
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  ransom and Seba for your sake, and I give men in exchange for your life.
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  When I read that, I mean, if floored me, this is how precious I am to God
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  that he's willing to give a life for me.
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  And so my only prayers throughout that period was that the person who is going to
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  be the candidate that's going to provide me with the lungs that will keep me alive
• 20:56
  will also be a candidate for heaven.