By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW) Stephanie Slater

PUERTO BARRIOS, Guatemala - A Guatemalan woman and her son-in-law walked almost five miles, traveled nearly six hours by truck and spent four nights in a hotel on a trip to the National Hospital in Puerto Barrios so she could undergo surgery June 28 aboard the U.S. Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20).

Elvira Cab was discharged June 29 after a hernia was surgically removed. For 12 years, she lived with an umbilical hernia the size of a tennis ball that prominently protruded from beneath her navel. It was only most recently in the last few months that it caused pain so intense that she could barely walk or breathe.

Cab credits her nearly 290-mile journey from her home in Coban Alta Vera to a newspaper article several months ago announcing that a hospital ship from the United States was coming to Guatemala to provide medical services and surgeries. Cab - whose native tongue is a Mayan dialect - told her story through her son-in-law, Samuel Botzoc. Botzoc translated her words into Spanish, which in turn were translated into English by one of the bilingual Navy nurses aboard Comfort.

Boztoc and his mother called the hospital in Puerto Barrios to find out what they needed to do to seek surgery.  They went to a clinic in their hometown for pre-medical screening and submitted the required paperwork to the hospital. Cob received the good news June 15 that she was selected. Cob´s two sons and four daughters then collected money amongst themselves to pay for the long trip.

"We couldn´t believe that it happened - it was incredible," Boztoc said. "We were very anxious to get here."

Cob and Boztoc spent the night before her surgery aboard the ship. After a successful one-hour surgery and a day to recover, Cob was discharged, looking forward to family and friends who gathered in Puerto Barrios to welcome her back and take her home.

The doctor who performed her surgery, Cdr. Frazier Frantz, normally practices as a pediatric surgeon at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., but has been performing both general and pediatric surgeries aboard Comfort ever since the ship began its four-month humanitarian assistance cruise to Latin America and the Caribbean June 15.

Frantz said that many people are born with umbilical hernias, which are normally seen in children born with this condition. The hernias do not usually hurt, unless the abdomen is traumatized. In Cob´s case, fatty intestinal tissue got stuck in the hernia, which caused the extreme pain she experienced prior to surgery.

"It is good to have this opportunity to help, but it is especially good when someone goes to all that trouble to be seen," said Frantz, who was amazed by the courage of this woman and her son-in-law who traveled such a long distance. "That´s what we´re here for."

Comfort is on a four-month humanitarian deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean providing medical treatment to patients in a dozen countries. While deployed, Comfort will be under operational control of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and tactical control of Destroyer Squadron 24.