MU| A r c h i v e s
The heroic Hamers
Manchester graduates in the medical mission
field helped identify an often-fatal disease
1969. They performed most of their work at Lassa Hospital, named
for the remote village where they cared for people suffering from
leprosy, malaria, dysentery, dehydration, parasites and more.
Laura Wine, a 69-year-old American nurse, was working with the
Hamers at the hospital in 1969 when she contracted a critical illness
and went into shock. Because no cultures or blood chemistry tests
were available in Lassa, the Hamers arranged to take her to Jos, 500
miles away, in a small plane. “John soon began to speculate that this
might be a new disease,” said Parham. “John and Esther were at
greater risk of getting the disease than they knew.”
When Wine died two days later, the Hamers insisted that blood
be drawn for bacterial and viral cultures and that an autopsy be
performed. That critical evidence provided information researchers
needed to identify what is now known as Lassa fever.
D
r. John Hamer ’48 and Esther Rinehart ’50 Hamer
probably don’t think of themselves as heroes. But the
makers of an upcoming documentary certainly do, and
they’re featuring the Hamers’ mission work that helped
identify Lassa fever in the 1960s.
Robert Parham and Cliff Vaughn of EthicsDaily.com were in North
Manchester in December to interview the Hamers and research
holdings in the MU Archives with the help of student archives assistant
Haley Steinhilber ’16. They pieced together the Hamers’ compelling
story, one of “courage, faith and medicine,” says Vaughn.
John Hamer, a physician, and Esther, a nurse, married in 1952 and
served in the Church of the Brethren’s Nigeria ministry from 1953 to
Lassa fever is an infectious, contagious disease that causes massive
internal bleeding and is often fatal. Early symptoms include a sore
throat, fever and malaise. Within a few weeks symptoms may also
include joint pain, cough, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting,
diarrhea and facial swelling. In Africa, the virus is spread primarily
by rats.
The Hamers returned to the U.S. in 1969 and settled in Fort
Wayne where John practiced family medicine. They retired to the
Timbercrest Senior Living Community in North Manchester. The
Hamers have two daughters, Dr. Harriet Hamer ’80, a physician in
South Bend, Ind., and Krista Hamer-Schweer ’82, an accountant
in Germany.
A rchives
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