'Dr. Marcy' saves young women's lives in Niger
Alumni & Friends, Winter/Spring 2005
A random e-mail from the founder of the International Organization for Women and Development (IOWD) sent Marcella Roenneburg ‘76, a urogynecologist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, on a mission of mercy halfway around the world.
IOWD is a nonprofi t organization that aids women with fi stulas in Niger. A fi stula is a hole that commonly develops between a woman’s vagina and bladder during lengthy labor. As a result of the pressure of the baby’s head cutting off the blood supply to fragile tissue, the tissue dies and creates a hole through which urine or feces constantly leak.
The e-mail stated that IOWD was recruiting surgeons for its next mission to the National Hospital in Niamey, Niger. Intrigued, Roenneburg decided to volunteer her services. In April 2004, she and nine other physicians headed for Africa.
“We each had a carry-on bag of clothes and two 72 pound suitcases full of medical supplies,” said Roenneburg. “We were even told to bring soap to wash our hands with.”
At the hospital, the physicians had to evaluate each patient and set up an operation schedule. The Nigerian physicians asked Roenneburg how she decided that one girl named Fatima would be the fi rst to be operated on. She replied, “She’s 14, the same age as my daughter.” After that, all patients who were 14 or 15 years old became known as “Dr. Marcy’s daughters.”
In the three weeks that the medical team was in Niger, they performed 72 operations. One surgery Roenneburg found particularly unforgettable. In the middle of the procedure, the electricity went out and the operating room went pitch black. The hospital’s generator kicked in and then died, leaving the surgical team unable to proceed. They were discussing their options when they heard that a documentary fi lm crew was in the vicinity and had camera lights. They found the fi lm crew who agreed to help. For the next one and a half hours, the crew took turns holding lights over the surgical field for the doctors.
The operation was a success. Roenneburg, who graduated from UW-Whitewater with a degree in biology and earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin, said that as she was fl ying back to the U.S., she started making plans for her next trip. In December 2004 she returned to Niger - this time accompanied by her 15- year-old daughter. – Alenia Heisz