The long awaited road to recovery

Many thanks, once again, for your prayers, comments, letters and encouragement. This has certainly been a roller coaster ride, but it would seem God is granting us a reprieve.

Yesterday, December 30th, Christopher was again taken into the Operating Theater for a Nephrostomy procedure. This was done successfully and is now allowing the graft kidney to produce urine and function. It is a temporary drain, and the surgeons will still need to figure out how to repair the original blockage between the graft kidney and the bladder. His creatin levels plummeted within the first several hours and this means Christopher is feeling much better. So it would seem that all along, a small blockage was prohibiting the graft kidney from doing its job. We are grateful to God for allowing the Doctors to diagnose this accurately.

Christopher will be kept in the Hospital over New Years Eve, as they want to keep an eye on his electrolyte balance. He is producing more urine and therefore needs to be kept on a saline drip.

Please pray for the hands of the surgeons, as they discuss and plan a strategy for the repair of the blockage. This has been a long road for our family to journey, and we have gotten through this due to your support, prayers and encouragement. We are grateful.

At different times I have wondered why this transplant needed to be so complicated and drawn out. The best conclusion I can arrive at, is that this has given Christopher a whole new appreciation for his health, his graft kidney and indeed his life. We pray this will help him to focus on God's will for him as a young man and that he will rise to the responsibility of caring for his body and taking his life saving medication on time. He is going to need to learn to be disciplined in a way he has never had to, and perhaps this difficult and arduous road was one he needed to travel first.

At any rate, we are grateful to be in the loving hands of our Saviour and we rest in the knowledge that His plans for us are in our best interest. What hope would there be without this?

We pray your New Year celebrations will be blessed, and that He would give us all ample opportunity to contemplate how best we can serve Him in the coming year.

God bless, and again, thank you for persevering with us through this chapter of our lives.

Lenora and family

Return to the Hospital

Hello again dear friends! We trust your Christmas was a time of reflection and pause, with the chance to give thanks for all our Saviour has done for us. Ours was a time of rejoicing, in that Christopher was able to be at home with us. Although he did not feel well at all, we were grateful to have a break from the gloomy hospital corridors and wards. God is good.

Thank you, for your many emails and messages. We are humbled at the amount of prayer on Christopher's behalf. He has been admitted back to the Hospital today, as he continues to be in end-stage renal failure. His creatin levels are so high now, that they are preparing him for dialysis. At the same time, they will attempt a procedure via a scope to see if they can undue a suspected blockage. If this is successful, they are hoping the graft kidney will have the opportunity to function normally. This procedure is due to take place tomorrow, December 29th.

We thank you in advance, for your prayers. May your journey into the New Year be blessed and filled with many opportunities. Thank you for standing with us.


With love,


Lenora Hammond

Turning a Corner

Wow, what a roller coaster ride our family has been on these last couple of weeks. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers, notes and expressions of concern for Christopher and I , but also for our family.

My Nephrectomy went well, with no complications. My kidney was then transported by the main surgeon (we had visions of accidents, hi-jackings or some other malady occurring during the transport phase) to the Red Cross Children's Hospital. To get a feel for the distances here, our home is in the middle of both of these Hospitals, and it takes about 10 minutes to get to either of them from our home. 18 years ago, when we were only renting this home, the Lord already knew we would need to live this close to the nearest medical help.

Christopher's surgical team was ready and waiting, and the same surgeon who performed the Nephrectomy, also operated on Christopher. She is a very lovely young Afrikaans woman, and is exceptionally gifted at what she does. She is also the head of the Renal department at Groote Schuur Hospital. Most of you know by now that Christopher experienced a number of setbacks, including a return to the operating theater, pneumonia in one lung and thus the need to be put on oxygen. His levels are still at an all time high, but both of us have turned a corner.

Christopher is now in the General Renal Ward, and I am at home. My pain levels are still surprisingly high, but the medication is doing its job. Anyone who knows me knows, that the inability to move around and organize everything for Christmas and our daughter Andrea's return home for the Holiday Season is torture. I have to accept daily, that I need to leave the things I am unable to do, and that the time will come when I am better and stronger.

God has been gracious, and the medical procedure we have been waiting for, for 14 years has finally happened. I am so thank full that my kidney was healthy and that I was able to give our son this new lease on life. Thank you for the part you all have played in this. You have all been invaluable.

We love and gratitude,


Lenora Hammond

Delays and Disappointments

Dearest Friends!

Yesterday, both Christopher and I were checked into our respective Hospitals and spent most of the day getting prepped for the Kidney transplant the following morning. We were both blessed by the many emails and messages that have been coming assuring us of prayer. Thank you.

By 10:30pm, just after I had been hooked up to an IV with a saline drip, we were informed that an emergency transplant was needing to take the place of our 'slot'. So we literally have been 'bumped off the table'. At first we thought it would be a short delay, but it turns out that they will not have 'Theater time' for us until December 2nd. At least that is the word for now.

We are hugely disappointed and I feel very deflated. So much had been put in place for this date, and Peter has worked tirelessly to keep all other aspects of our ministry and family life afloat. I am so grateful that our Sovereign God is in control and that His plans will unfold in His special timing.

Thank you for your encouragement and loving support. We will keep you posted.

Lenora and Christopher Hammond

Transplant update

Dear Friends!


Thank you to all of you who send us encouraging notes!

Christopher and I were at the Hospital today, for our now weekly check-up. He is in End – Stage Renal Failure now, and they are attempting to bring the transplant forward. We had been tentatively scheduled for February 2010, but now the transplant is scheduled for November 18th. (Another family was moved to our date in Feb).

Incredibly, after all the tests I have undergone, I still need to do a CT scan, and then they will do final blood tests, to ensure that the match is a good one. I will be checked into the State Hospital (Groote Schuur) on November 17th, and the surgery is due to take place on the 18th.

Christopher is at the hospital once a week now for regular blood work and blood pressure tests. I am confident we are in good hands, whether the Lord chooses to heal Christopher directly, or through these surgeons.

Some of you have expressed concern regarding the fact that these are not American Hospitals. While our facilities are reminiscent of WWII, the surgeons and specialists are first class. We are very happy with their knowledge and care, and the overall co-ordinator for this operation has looked after us very efficiently. South Africa is an interesting mix of First World and Third World situations, and we experience this juxtaposition almost daily. As far as our Renal care goes, we are grateful for proficient physicians, even though the waiting is long, and the facilities less than 2star! After all, the first heart transplant was performed by the famous South African surgeon, Dr. Chris Barnard, at the very same hospital we will be at.

We praise the Lord, to Whom none of this comes as a surprise, that He has gone ahead of the situation, and that His loving hand will rest upon us. Thank you for your intercession and friendship.


With gratefulness


Lenora and Peter Hammond

Renal Function up-date

Christopher and I had another Renal Clinic appointment today, and as usual, the wait was long and noisy. After about one and a half hours, we were seen by the two main Doctors. They were happy with Christopher's blood pressure and weight gain. But by the time we received the blood test results in the afternoon, the Doctor's words were ' I am worried'.

No parent wants to hear that kind of comment! I was in the middle of Claremont when I received the call on my cellphone. I was dodging African Taxis, who were noisily soliciting possible passengers, as well as peak traffic, while trying to listen attentively to the Doctor relating to me symptoms I was to watch out for. She said if he has as much as a head ache, we need to call them. We are to watch out for cramping, vomiting and any other abnormal symptoms.

Christopher's Doctor is trying to get our Renal transplant date moved forward to November! She is not sure the Hospital will have a space available, but she will do her best. The other alternative for him will be to go on dialysis treatment.

Thank you for joining us in prayer, that God would reveal to us His perfect schedule and timing and that we would accept this all as His sovereign will.

May God bless you all for your intercession on behalf of our family.


With love and gratefulness,

Lenora