Soldier Lives Without Stomach, Intestines & Reproductive Organ

A Ghanaian-born US naval officer has had to undergo 86 major surgeries, which has left her without a stomach, intestines and female reproductive organs. Currently, a mesh serves as her stomach, with tubes and metals constituting her intestines. She also has a tube in her bladder to help her urinate, and three air filters in her left neck. Annielisa Arajowa Vanbovan, 35, a Petty Officer (second class surface warfare) has now retired as a result of her condition and relocated to Ghana. She runs a restaurant, a modelling agency, a charity foundation and a movie/music production house in Accra and Tema. Speaking to the Times at her restaurant in Tema on Sunday, Ms Vanbovan said, "after all the pains and the loss of some parts of my body, I was compensated with a son. It has taught me to know that God is not a prejudiced God or a God of discrimination". She said: "Between 2006 and 2008, found myself in a critical situation with no knowledge of what was happening around me, but God made a way when all else had failed." Even though she was going through very terrible stomach pains, Ms Vanbovan said countless tests conducted on her "proved a zero diagnosis," prompting her to go through the 86 major surgeries. "I was told that at a point, I had to be fed on baby food through tubes to enable me to regain some flesh to make cutting for the surgeries possible," she recalled. Ms. Vanbovan, said to have come out of such a situation alive and strong to share her story with the public, was in itself a testimony, and encouraged all Ghanaians to be strong and hopeful at all times. She said, "even though I did not believe in God before the incident, I literally experienced the hand of God upon my life at the point of death. I urge all Ghanaians to remain steadfast in their faith in God." She also called on Ghanaians and, especially, Christians "to continue to walk in God's light and be ready to have all their hearts' desires met. "This is because God always has a way of turning things around when all else have failed." She used the opportunity to wish Ghanaians a New Year, full of blessings and good health.