By Matt Grager

Mexico Mission Trips - Today, the doctors say that the tumor inside Sergio Efrain Rochin Avila’s brain has minimized to a manageable size and his migraine headaches that he has suffered constantly for the past three months are gone. Only fifteen days earlier, on the day it was discovered, the tumor was so dangerous to Efain’s health that it demanded immediate surgery or he risked losing all of his five senses.

Efrain is a 19-year-old Ruiz resident who is now recovering from the benign brain tumor, but the doctors cannot explain his progress. Efrain and his family believe his recovery is a miracle from God.

“My family and I were scared and shocked,” Efrain said through a translator, “I’d had no previous head injuries and could not explain how it happened.”

It took two days from his diagnosis to find a specific valve for the surgery he required. Efrain’s brother, Omar, said this is typical of the medical system in Nayarit. Efrain waited, checked into the hospital in Tepic, 45 minutes from Ruiz, scared.

While Efrain waited for the operation, Pastor Abel, an Experience Mission community partner, went to Tepic to visit and pray with him. In Ruiz, the EM youth missionary teams devoted a portion of their nightly service to praying for him and Pastor Abel’s church held a special prayer service.

“I am glad and appreciative to those people who I don’t even know me that prayed for me in those days,” he said. “I am grateful to God for bringing those people.”

When the valve necessary for his surgery was found, the doctors made a startling discovery. His tumor had significantly diminished in size, so much so that it did not need to be removed. Instead they inserted a tube from his tumor to his stomach to allow the fluid in his head to drain properly.

“The doctors could not explain why it diminished, they were confused and shocked,” he said.

Now, after his surgery, Efrain must be cautious. He has taken two months off from his job as a waiter in order to recover. He can no longer go out often with his friends, or play soccer, because his tube may be knocked out. But, Efrain can be seen almost everyday walking through Ruiz, as the doctors have told him to do.

There is still the small possibility that the tumor may grow again. In this case, Efrain faces a very risky surgery in which his skull would be split completely open and his tumor cut from the center of his brain.

At this point, with his miraculous progress, the doctors and Efrain do not believe it will come to that.

“We believe God will take care of him, that he has already taken care of him and will continue our miracle,” Efrain’s brother Omar said.

To serve in Ruiz with Experience Mission on one of our Mexico mission trips, visit our website at www.ExperienceMission.org. To check out additional media about Ruiz, visit our news website at www.ExperienceMissionNews.com. Register now for a future mission trip with Experience Mission.