Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/870419
t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 30 "I had come to the realization of the plight of my family, the plight of my friends, the plight of my country, and the shocker that this was the life I was meant to live forever. How could they lead a life like this—still in this world— while I had just come from my life in the U.S.?" Alaniz said. "It wasn't even in the same universe." She returned to the U.S. with a renewed sense of purpose. As a way of reconciling the guilt she felt, she vowed to buy property in Malawi to one day turn into a clinic. During her second year of medical school, Alaniz and her colleagues organized a garage sale and raised $1,500 over two weekends. Thanks to a donor who agreed to match the amount they raised, Alaniz used the $3,000 to buy land in Salima, Malawi. In 2008, Alaniz and her father used the land to establish the Pothawira Clinic, an outpatient clinic that serves more than 150 miles of rural Africa. They have also built a church, a school, an orphanage and, recently, a birthing center on the property. Alaniz and her team treat 300 to 400 patients each day at the clinic during her annual medical trips to Malawi, just as her father did through- out her childhood. "I believe it was part of God's plan to bring me here for me to do what I do," she said. The return Within the past two years, Alaniz climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro twice to raise money for clean water and the birthing center in Salima. Her first trek in 2016 was a test of faith and perseverance. Seven hours into the climb, she and her group finally reached Stella Point, located 18,652 feet in elevation, just before the summit. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, blurry vision and a headache, Alaniz fell to her knees, crying hysterically. She had vom- ited several times and was physically incapable of taking another step. "It clicked to me that there was a time when I said to God, 'Use me until you use me up.' I couldn't see myself being any more used up than I was when I was on the summit, but it all made sense to me," Alaniz said. "It seemed to me that the physical pain I was feeling was nothing in comparison to what a lot of women and children are still going through in Malawi." After Alaniz finished the climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, she went to work in the district hospital where her father worked. As she walked into the labor and delivery ward, she saw a line of nine or 10 women lying on black trash bags on the floor, delivering their babies. One woman sat silently in a corner with a trail of blood next to her. She was hemorrhaging. Alaniz ran over, put on her gloves and began pulling clots of blood out of the woman. Other women came to the hospital with ruptured uteri and dead babies floating in their abdomens: they had walked on foot to the hospital after being in labor for hours. Others came in with obstetric fistulas caused by babies who had died and were stuck in the women's birth canals for days. "These were the rooms I didn't go to before," Alaniz said. "Here I was finally seeing why my mother was in danger every time she got pregnant. This was the hospital where my mother deliv- ered. She came here seven times and survived. I don't know how." As a gynecologic oncologist in the U.S., Alaniz treats women who are facing their mortality because of cancer. Although the patients she treats in the U.S. are different than those she sees in Malawi, there is one distinct similarity. Both groups recognize the precious- ness of life, Alaniz said. But regardless of whether she's in Malawi or the U.S., the goal remains the same: to serve. "My philosophy in life is to serve others," Alaniz said. "As Mahatma Gandhi said, 'You won't really ever truly find yourself until you lose yourself in the service of someone else.'" 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Together, we're Making Cancer History. ® You will be asked to: • Come to an appointment in the Texas Medical Center (parking costs covered) • Sign an informed consent document • Complete a questionnaire • Provide a blood and saliva sample *human papillomavirus Are you at risk for throat cancer? It seemed to me that the physical pain I was feeling was nothing in comparison to what a lot of women and children are still going through in Malawi. — ANNE ALANIZ, D.O. Gynecologic oncologist at Houston Methodist Hospital