A TESTIMONY OF HENRY AND ARINA
GROENEWALD ABOUT THE HEALING
OF THEIR BABY BOY ARNEH

Arneh Groenewald was born on 7 March 2005 with dislocated hips. The sockets had never formed, while the upward inclination of the femoral heads and necks relative to their shafts formed an almost straight line with a 160 degrees bend, instead of the normal angle of 120 degrees. After confirmation of the diagnosis with sonar, treatment commenced in all earnest. As progress inevitably depends on bone-growth, the process is slow.

The treatment would include the following:

A period in the harness to keep the legs apart and to press the femoral heads against the acetabuli to form sockets in which the femoral heads can be seated. The acetabuli are cartilaginous during the developmental stage, but change into bone with time. The shaping must be manipulated before bone formation.

  • Cutting the tendons in both groins to open the hips as far as possible.
  • Wearing a plaster cast (spica) extending from under the arms to the points of the toes. This keeps the hips in position and promotes the correct shaping of bone in the sockets.
  • During the “traction” period, the aim was to stretch certain muscles and ligaments so that the femoral heads could be placed into the sockets with the least effort. Too much pressure restricts blood circulation to the femoral heads, causing necrosis.
  • The removal of the excess lengths of ligaments between the cavities of the sockets and the femoral heads, as this prevented the femoral heads from seating in the sockets. The risk of too much loss of blood required that two operations be performed two weeks apart, first on the one leg and later on the other.
  • Regular examinations including CT scans and Arthrography. Full anaesthesia was required for every Arthrogram, each of which lasted between 45 and 90 minutes.
  • Regular changes of the plaster casts to prevent impairment of normal growth.
  • The last operation that would be required, consists of reducing the angle of the femoral head and neck relative to the shaft. To achieve this, a small V-shaped segment is removed from the femoral neck just below the femoral head, after which the femoral head is kept in the correct position by plates and screws. This reduction would also require two operations,one on each leg.
Slowly but surely we progressed through each step, knowing that he endured pain. We jibbed tremendously at the last step, but by the grace of the God of Israel this last step, and also by far the most painful in the treatment process, was not necessary!

Tuesday 1 November ‘05 the Lord called us in fasting. We felt that we should fast until we could get an appointment with Pastor Neser to anoint Arneh and to pray for him as set out in James 5:14,15. Friday afternoon at 4pm he was anointed and once again a prayer went up to God for his healing.

Tuesday 8 November ‘05 at 8am, Arneh went into theatre for an Arthrogram. At the previous follow-on examination on 26 August ‘05, Dr Denise Potgieter had told us that during this Arthrography she would also go ahead with the reduction procedure of the first femoral head, after which he would again have to remain in the spica for 8 weeks. However, after 90 minutes in the theatre, he came out with only a small plaster cast on his left foot! The doctor remarked: “His hips look wonderful. It is so stable. I applied pressure to them to see whether they would slip out, but they did not. For a child with this type of problem, which already started invitro, I find the progress of his hips mindboggling!”

In answer to our question whether he could start crawling and be allowed to stand on his legs, she replied: “Don’t hold him back, there is no reason to.”
In answer to our question whether he might well have to undergo this operation later on, she replied: “It is highly unlikely.”

We saw the miracle!!!!
During this process there were many up’s and down’s and our patience was tried to the utmost. Bone grows only as fast as bone grows! Sometimes, when we thought that we could move on to the next phase, we were to learn that with a little more patience we could reduce the extent of an operation. At other times we received some respite. During such times we jumped at small privileges, such as to be able to bath our child, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Now we are looking forward to and counting off the 21 days. He is going to bath every night now and will also be able to swim with us!

We have learnt
• to appreciate small privileges and to count our blessings
• to support each other and not to run one another down when the courage is low
• to adapt without rebellion to circumstances that we did not choose
• to direct our questions to God
• to seek our courage and strength from God
• to be patient
• to trust God
• who seeks God SHALL find Him He saves with a mighty hand
• He has a plan with everyone’s life and SHALL complete what He set out to do
• God is closer than we think (He feels our pain and knows our discomfort)
• Fasting and prayer is a necessity in our relations with God
• Little Arneh taught us what it is to smile in spite of discomfort and pain
• The days of miracles are not gone!
 

God lives!

Please forward this testimony. Think back for awhile to the miracles that God have performed in your life. Let us not be like the 9 lepers, who were healed but did not go to say thank you. Let us turn around like that 1 leper did and run again all the way to His feet in gratefulness! Your miracle is definitely worth more than 1 thank you, and can encourage and introduce someone else to the Great Healer!