Transforming Pain to Purpose Part 1

Paula: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of chatting with the experts TV show hosted by me, Paula Okonneh. Every week I bring to you an incredible woman. A woman that fascinates me and I know you with her story. But even more so… she fascinates you by what she [00:01:00] brings to the table. The mission of this show is to inspire, is to empower, and is to educate each one of you that tune in or listen, because I do have a podcast, and today is no exception.
I have an incredible guest and I’ll tell you a bit about her. Her name is Dr. Irene Olumese and she’s an author, an inspirational speaker, she’s a Bible study teacher and a certified faith informed professional transformational trauma coach. She is the founder and executive director of the Feet To grace Foundation. As the founder and executive director of the Feet To Grace Foundation, which is a charity organization that provides prosthetic rehabilitation services [00:02:00] for amputees in Nigeria. Irene facilitates amputees emotional well-being and empowerment.
She is the author of Grace In The Storm, a living proof, and she’s driven by a desire to help people live victorious lives, irrespective of the storms they face, and to make their pain count as gain for others. Her book, fifty five chapters of God’s grace is a compendium of God inspired lessons that Christians must imbibe to take full delivery of God’s promises and manifest His purpose here on earth. Our topic is going to be Transforming Pain to Purpose, Power, and Profit. And with that, I welcome my guest, Dr. Irene Olumese
Irene: [00:03:00] thank you very much, Paula. Thank you. It’s a pleasure and a honor to be with you this evening.
Paula: Thank you. I am honored that you are my guest because you inspire me and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to have you on because if you inspire me, I know you can inspire others. So, as you, my listeners and viewers, the topic is on Transforming Pain to Purpose Power and Pain. There’s a reason that we have that as the topic. So I’m going to ask Irene, if she’s willing to share her story with us.
Irene: Okay. Yes, of course. And thank you once again, Paula. I will try to do a mother of all summary of my story. I’m a lung transplant survivor and a [00:04:00] bilateral amputee now. How did we get to that?
So, I lived for 20 years with a chronic respiratory disease called myasthenia gravis. Mm-Hmm. Uh, sorry, . I lived with a chronic respiratory disease called bronch metastasis and a debilitating neuromuscular disease called myasthenia gravis. And we got the indication that something was wrong at 1993, when I started coughing and fast forward to June, 1993, I had to have the first surgery on my lungs and my chest tracheotomy and fist assist. The size of my fist was sticking out from between my heart and my lungs. And we thought that was the end of the story, but no, that just opened up a new, a complex syndrome that kept me coughing nonstop for the next 20 years.
Paula: Oh my word.
Irene: I mean, it was [00:05:00] literally coughing every day and with everything else that came with it. We did not quite know what we were dealing with. What was all of this? I got a diagnosis in 1997 when my doctors actually gave a name to it in UCH Nigeria, and I needed a second opinion, so I went to Ohio Medical Center in U. S., and I got a second opinion, and it was exactly what my doctors in Nigeria had told me, and the added information was that depending on the progression of the two combined diseases that I may end up in the wheelchair within the next five years, unable to do my basic daily care, even of myself.
But in the midst of all of this, I had two sons. I also completed my doctorate and I was working with an international organization. And so when we got this diagnosis all my friends asked me, you need to stay back in the United States. And I said, no, not without my family, I have good job. I have medical [00:06:00] insurance. I get my medications and I’m going back home. And that was exactly what I did, because for me I did not want this situation to redefine my identity. Or to define how we’re going to live as a family. And I was not ready to be in any country where I couldn’t have my family with me. I had two young sons.
And so I went back home to Nigeria at that time and continued working. And in 2001, I got an international appointment with my organization and I was transferred to Ghana. And while I was working in Ghana, another region of Ghana that lungs collapsed. And so I was in a place where there was no medical facilities to take care of me and I could not be flown anywhere because of the state of my lungs. And so, my organization tried to get me to Burkina Faso, which is five hours drive. They said, no, don’t bring her because we don’t have facility to take care [00:07:00] of her. So they put me in an ambulance. No oxygen, no air conditioner, 10 and a half hours from Tamale to Accra.
It’s still a miracle how I made it alive. And after spending about six weeks in a hospital in Accra, having the poor effusion drained and all of that, I had a tube inserted in my, on my side and things were not making any difference. I had to be medevacked to Switzerland. My husband was already working here with WHO and it just made sense that I should be brought here. And so I came here in 2003, exactly 10 years after the first surgery and had the second surgery on my lungs. At this time, I was in a managerial position in my organization and I was looking at breaking into management and it wasn’t quote unquote an ideal time for a woman, a professional woman to be [00:08:00] coming out of work.
And I thought I’d always run with this policy that a woman has a multiple role of reproduction and production. And she should be able to manage both. And she should have an enabling environment to manage both. I should not have to sacrifice one for the other. But at this point in my life, I had to make a critical life changing decision to come out of work, to take care of myself and relocate my children to Switzerland and settle them here. And it was now not only having to deal with my medical situation, I also had to deal with significant financial challenges as well.
Paula: Yes,
Irene: I think that we had made plans on the basis of our two salaries. We bought a house, took a mortgage, took a loan to pay the 20 percent that is required by Switzerland, which you have to bring from outside as a foreigner. And all of this was happening in the midst of raising my young boys, managing my [00:09:00] house. And just try to find a balance, where do I go from here? I had put so much into my career, it was a dream career, and I really wanted to excel. And I knew I was doing a real good job, but where do I go from here? Well, I came out of work and spent the next couple, three years literally, having hot palpitations at the end of each month, you know, when the bill starts running in.
So the financial challenges was really intense. I mean, it was as bad as the bank declaring my account delinquent because I couldn’t make my payment as it was due. I mean, I did everything that I could possibly do. I sold salad masterparts. I tried Hubble Live. I tried Mirka. I mean, just to keep something coming in. Because it was huge bill. We had huge bills coming [00:10:00] in.
Paula: Yes.
Irene: I fast forward to three years later, 2006. Uh, got provoked a recommendation for me and I was recommended for a position in Cairo. So I packed my bags. Yes. In Cairo, in Egypt.
Paula: Okay.
Irene: Packed my bags, left my sons here in Switzerland and went to Cairo. What I was doing was to come home one long weekend every month to, check in on the family and make sure they’re doing great. And did that for a year. And then again, I had another relapse in my lungs
Paula: while you were in Cairo?
Irene: While I was in Cairo,
Paula: woah.
Irene: While I was in Cairo, I was actually flying back into Switzerland for my usual one long weekend. And it became very difficult to breathe mid air. And as soon as we landed, I had to be taken straight to the hospital. And then my doctors told me that my lungs were no longer holding sufficient air to [00:11:00] give me the amount of oxygen that I needed. So my oxygen saturation was incredibly low. And for them, the only solution was for me to be on oxygen supplementation, 24 hours a day. They were like, okay, how are we going to operationalize this? I have a job to finish in Cairo. I mean, they looked at me and said, are you crazy? What are you talking about here? For me, it’s I have a life to live one. And two, I have a policy of when I start something, I need to finish it. Because, I mean, that’s something that I’ve been struggling with all my life. Not having uncompleted projects. And it was also a strategic project I was working on. I couldn’t just walk out of it. And it was one that has also been incredibly challenged. And as a Christian, I believe that he who set his hands on the plow and look back is not fit for the Kingdom of God, that one side [00:12:00] too, and a Christian and the only Christian in that group, you know, leading that that team and the interesting thing is that all the focus for us.
Leading that project, I as an international officer and two other uh, three national office specialists, all of us had significant life threatening challenges in that season.
Paula: Wow. Oh my God.
Irene: So for me, it was no longer this was not just natural. Something else was at play. I mean, how could the four of fours, excuse me, How come that one had a fire outbreak at home and sustained a secondary degree burn. One had an accident and broke a limb. And another, you know, an elderly lady who two sisters live together, one died and they’ve been living together all their lives. And I couldn’t come back from Switzerland. So for me, there was more at play.
[00:13:00] And I had to bring in my Christian perspective here and also had a conversation with my doctors. Look, I need, even if I’m not going to continue to work in Cairo. I must finish this project. I must see it to a logical conclusion. What you need to tell me is what do I have to do to make this happen. But not going back to Cairo to finish is not one of the options I was ready to take. So my doctors looked at me and they definitely thought this woman has lost it.
Paula: Yes.
Irene: One of them is an elderly professor and he said to me, look, our treatment that when we relate to the patient, it’s always holistic. We know you, we know your passion, we know the way you work and the high premium you put on your profession. We will give you the conditions. And if you can meet all these conditions, we’ll allow you to go back and finish and say, give me the conditions. One, I [00:14:00] was to have oxygen in my office, oxygen cylinder in my office. Two, I was to have an oxygen cylinder or concentrator in my apartment. Three, I have to have a mobile. And then, there was not a lot of options.
And so there was this little canister that I could just spray on, you know, to give me oxygen. And so I, they gave me the three conditions. I sent a message to my friends in back in Cairo to my office that this is my situation. The office agreed for me to have, because I had to have a permission for that. The office agreed for me to have an oxygen canister and a cylinder in the office. And my friend said, look, we’re not going to let you stay alone. We will get the oxygen concentrator. We’re moving it into our apartment, our own home. And they moved me into their home. It was just, they were just strategically located there to be God’s hand supporting me in that challenging season of my life.
And they put their driver and car at my [00:15:00] disposal. So I could go to work in the morning with my canister sprayed on. I get into the office, I link with my candelor, and I was running my work under the circumstances with literally walking around the clock. And to the glory of God, we were able to complete that project in about seven weeks. And I recall that when we prepared the presentation to the government. Because I’m an international partner supporting the first presentation has to be made by the national partner. So there are two of us lead, and then the supporting specialist. And when the lady, the national coordinator was going to make a presentation, and she said something that has remained with me till today.
She said it was by the grace of God and the perseverance of Irene that we have been able to finish this project. And I’m sitting down there and [00:16:00] I’m stunned, and all I could say is that God, there is a purpose for this. I don’t know why we have to go through all of this, but this is good to leave a lasting impression of this woman, and I pray that will be the turning point for her to become a Christian. And we made the presentation, I made mine, it was applauded, it was well received, submitted the report, I packed my bags at the end of 2007. January 2008, I returned back to Geneva and now I’m coming back to a snow blank agenda. All I had as to take care of myself, nebulize, medicate, respirate. That was it.
Just medicating and nebulizing to keep my chest free. [00:17:00] And I was doing all of this. All the way to to that towards the end of 2008, I was really bad and I ended up in the ICU and I just couldn’t even, I didn’t know how we made it through that. Fast forward to and that was too much for me. That was too much. How do you pray? How do you pray? What do you do? And the interesting thing was that this is the same doctor who’s been managing me since I got into Switzerland. And he’s just been strategically located at the right place at the right time to push my case.
He told us that he actually had presented me for lung transplant in 2008, and it was thrown out that I had complicated medical history, and they raised tons of questions, [00:18:00] and he spent two years going from one respiratory conference to another. Presented my case to get an answer to those questions and it was after he had done that and represented my case that he informed us. So he had done a lot of work on my behalf that we had no clue about. And of course we had to go through the whole Walk up to, to see if I was a suitable candidate. Now, it has to the way Switzerland work, this is specialized center for each different kind of transplant, and the doctors in the other hospital, we’re not impressed with my history and didn’t think I could be a suitable candidate. So now I had this battle to fight a, well, not me fighting. My doctor’s fighting to justify why I should be on a waiting list.
Paula: No, for saying you didn’t think you were a suitable candidate. [00:19:00] Did they think that you weren’t going to make the surgery? What was the reason?
Irene: That said that I’ve had too too many surgeries on my chest. And the fear that there will be attrition. The fear that the process of taking out the old lungs if there is an adhesion, I will bleed to death on the table. And well, that was the main reason they gave me, I don’t know what else was going on behind their mind. But it was a struggle because the way that was delivered through really, you know, stripped me of hope, but I refused to give up on hope and I refused to give up on the fight. So my doctors were fighting for me and I was fighting as well. And so I got on the waiting list and waited three years.
That’s from 2000 and. From 2010 to 2013. And then January, 2013. You know, every time my friends called me, we had a group of friends who were praying along. We just, as soon as I got on the waiting [00:20:00] list, we just called up a few friends and told them, this is what we are facing. And we needed them to pray along with us. And all we were asking them to pray is for God to keep me alive until a suitable candidate is found for me, because I simply could not pray that somebody should die. And while I was struggling with that, God led me to Isaiah 43, and it was like because you’re precious to me, and I love you, I give Egypt for your ransom and Seba for your sake, and I give men in exchange for your life.
When I read that, I mean, if floored me, this is how precious I am to God that he’s willing to give a life for me. And so my only prayers throughout that period was that the person who is going to be the candidate that’s going to provide me with the lungs that will keep me alive will also be a candidate for [00:21:00] heaven.