ROMEOVILLE—On the way home from the demanding two-week mission in the Philippines, the Joliet diocesan team slumbered as the airplane in which they traveled soared above the Pacific Ocean. Sleep was fleeting for missioners Dr. Diane Fabrizius, an internist, and Josephine Mulvihill, a pediatric nurse. In an instant, the two from Elmhurst found themselves up and moving quickly down the aisle to treat an 8-year-old boy who was experiencing severe breathing problems. They were ultimately successful in stabilizing him.

“It could have been a big problem,” said Fabrizius, reflecting upon the incident with the Catholic Explorer Feb. 23 in a telephone interview. It appeared that the boy was having an allergic reaction to something he had eaten onboard the airplane.

The swelling of his face caused the restriction in the youngster’s airway, Fabrizius said. Without medical intervention, the child’s breathing could have further deteriorated and the situation could have become more serious or fatal, said the member of Visitation Parish in Elmhurst.

With access to the onboard medical kit, Fabrizius said she was fortunate to find cortisone, an anti-inflammatory medication, as well as an albuterol inhaler for the child’s asthmatic symptoms. The physician authorized Mulvihill to administer the medications.

In moments, the two professionals observed dramatic improvement in the boy’s condition.

Over the course of the rest of the 13-hour trip, Fabrizius and Mulvihill continued checking the child’s vital signs. Other members of the medical mission team looked in on the boy and his family too, the doctor said. Near the end of the flight, the child was happily eating breakfast. The youngster’s family as well as the flight attendants were “relieved.”

Before boarding the plane for the return flight home, Fabrizius and Mulvihill counted nearly 50 people per day that they had treated, including patients suffering from leprosy and tuberculosis.

A veteran of Joliet diocesan mission trips in poverty-stricken places such as Bolivia and Kenya, the doctor mentioned that her service as a medical volunteer is “a way to use the gifts and skills that God has given me where the need is very deep.” Fabrizius added, “But, I get so much more than I put into it.”

In her most recent trip to the Philippines, Fabrizius said she could “see the face of Christ” in the missioners as they worked to help heal the people as well as the patients themselves who were seeking their help. “They were actually serving me.”

As Fabrizius was treating the youngster on the plane ride home, the physician learned the child’s first name, “Christian,” she said. “Jo and I just looked at each other.” After their spiritual experience in the Philippines “that just seemed fitting,” she said.

Mission coordinator Art Sheridan, ministry associate for the Joliet diocesan Peace and Social Justice Ministry, said the boy was suffering on the plane and “God provided” for him through the presence of the medical team. It was Sheridan who directed the flight attendants to the medical team when the boy became ill. “We were in the right place to be.”

Of the experience on the airplane, Fabrizius, who practices in Elmhurst and doesn’t typically treat children, said that she was thankful that Mulvihill, a trained pediatric nurse, was on-hand to assist her during the ordeal.

Mulvihill also applauded her colleague and fellow missioner’s composed manner under pressure. “Diane rose to the occasion. She was calm and cool,” she said during a Feb. 22 telephone conversation with the Explorer.

The pediatric nurse and member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Elmhurst said that treating the boy on the airplane was distressing for her because they were miles away from land. But, after administering the shot, “He began doing well.”

“It was an intense two weeks,” said Mulvihill, talking about the mission trip as well as the incident on the way home. Performing outpatient work on the islands, the nurse said she helped treat ill people with no regular access to medical care.

Mulvihill, who participated in a 1995 mission trip in Bolivia, plans to offer her assistance again as a medical volunteer in the Philippines. “There are so many good people there. I have a gift. I need to share it,” she added.

About 40 missioners participated Feb. 2-17 in the Joliet diocesan mission in the Philippines, according to Sheridan. Medical crews performed outpatient work and surgeries in Borongan on the island of Samar on the coast of the Philippine Sea. “They did about 100 surgeries and treated hundreds of other people,” he said.

The medical teams also worked in Bacolod City, the largest urban center of the seaport province of Negros Occidental. They met the medical needs of nearly 500 people in the community, he said. At the same time, construction crews built three homes for widows living in the community.

Meanwhile, a group of representatives from the Diocese of Joliet scoured Bacolod City, assessing the other needs. Sheridan said that his diocesan agency is currently in the process of planning a mission trip for university students of the diocese to help the people of the impoverished city. The first university trip in the region is planned for January 2007, he added.