“If we can help in any way…”

As our Kickstarter comes to its end, we thought it would be appropriate to cite two of Dr. Geelhoed writings to end our series of blog posts highlighting “Surgery on the 6th Ring of Saturn.” First, we would like to highlight a letter he wrote to all of you:

I am excited to tell you that our long-awaited and purpose-built special Mobile Surgical Unit II is now completed, and we are embarking on another adventure – a documentary film!

The MSU-II is designed to reach the Furthest Peoples First in the delivery of healthcare and healthcare education, for the purpose of indigenizing skill. The 30-ton unit is complete and ready for launch on the Transect of Africa we are planning for 2019.

The new MSU-II represents a shift for Mission to Heal from simply delivering care on a small scale to being an influential model for providing safe, efficient, and effective care worldwide.

Because of this leap forward, we are pursuing a feature-length documentary film project to highlight Mission to Heal’s work to serve the underserved and share that vision with a global audience.

I would be deeply grateful for your support of this film project. The working title for the film is “Surgery on the 6th Ring of Saturn” and the film crew we are working with will join me and nearly 20 volunteers on our upcoming trip to Mongolia in early August.

You can get more information about the film – including a teaser trailer – here. We are currently raising funds to bring the film crew with us to Mongolia.

Thank you for joining us on this mission.

Glenn W Geelhoed, MD

 

Second, is a journal entry he wrote this past April during a trip to Switzerland.

“ I had quite a discussion with the nine-year-olds and learned a bit about how they have a simplistic and still bone cutting directness in the questions they were eager to ask.  So eager were they, in fact, that they would jump up and down with their hands raised and then when called upon, were under the spotlight of my attention which caused them to forget what they had wanted to ask.  But many of them were about motivation and I told them they could start on that now. “Don’t ever let anyone say you are “JUST” a student, since I am one of those too and if someone has a flat tire outside the school in the rain, and we had said only a moment earlier that we were interested in helping people, it was not the time to come up with “I am just a kid” or “I am just a doctor” and I don’t do flat tires!”  If we can help in any way then we do not have to wait for a given age, or a license or a qualification as “just another human being.”

When you contribute to our Kickstarter, you aren’t just funding a film. You are kindling a global conversation that will go on to save thousands of lives. Whether you give your time or money, we appreciate all of your donations and hope the generosity of this community continues to grow. Donate here.