Join Us at the 2025 FaithCare Global Impact Conference & Banquet – October 24-25: https://www.faithcare.net/faithcare-annual-banquet/
When Gardlyne Deshommes spotted a FaithCare flyer in the hallway of Berks Catholic High School, she had no idea it would spark a life-changing journey, not just for her, but for her entire family. Inspired by a desire to serve, Gardlyne asked her father, Gardy, to join her on a medical mission trip to Nigeria. At just 15, she was too young to go without a parent or guardian. Gardy, an epidemiologist, agreed. And their family’s FaithCare story began.
Their first trip in April 2023 took them to Abia State, Nigeria, where Gardlyne served in the pharmacy and Gardy helped coordinate patient flow.
Gardlyne Deshommes works at a pharmacy on a medical mission trip to Nigeria.
That trip opened their eyes and hearts to the overwhelming need and showed them how even simple acts of service could bring hope and healing. They left Nigeria, eager to return.
Gardy became a FaithCare board member, and Gardlyne’s mother, Loula, joined her husband and daughter on their second mission in February 2025 to the FaithCare-Nigeria Kuje Hospital, where a team of 29 volunteers provided care to more than 2,200 patients.
Gardy Deshommes coordinates patient flow on a medical mission to Nigeria.
On that second trip, Gardlyne assisted an OB-GYN team and encountered a woman struggling with stigma about infertility. “She had been praying to find out what was wrong,” Gardlyne said. “When we told her nothing was wrong with her womb, she was relieved, and she wanted us to tell her husband too.” That moment, and many like it, revealed how deeply women’s health was intertwined with social and spiritual concerns.
Meanwhile, Gardlyne’s mother, Loula, who works as a special education teacher, comforted a patient undergoing surgery for a uterine fibroid. “She had partial anesthesia, so she wasn’t in pain but could sense a pulling,” Loula recalled. “She was awake and crying during the procedure, so I stood beside her, prayed, and spoke with her. She called me an angel. My being there calmed her.”
Loula Deshommes volunteers on a medical mission to Nigeria.
The FaithCare team also removed a 10.5-pound ovarian tumor from another woman. “The joy and gratitude she showed—this wasn’t just medical care. It was an answered prayer,” Gardy said.
The Deshommes family continues to support FaithCare’s local clinic in Reading, PA, where Gardy hopes to expand services to meet growing need in the Latino community. “FaithCare isn’t just a mission. It’s a purpose,” he said.
Learn more at the 2025 FaithCare Global Impact Conference & Banquet on October 24-25. The weekend or just the banquet on October 25 are powerful opportunities to connect and contribute to FaithCare’s global mission of healing.
When asked why others should support FaithCare, the Deshommes family’s answers were simple and heartfelt:
Gardy: “Why not you? There’s no end to the Book of Acts. The work continues, and we are that extension. It ends up your life being changed, not theirs but yours.”
Loula: “Compassion turns into empathy. Empathy into action.”
Gardlyne: “We think we can’t be part of it because we’re not there, we’re not in front of the person. But even if you’re not there, you can still be part of the change.”
Be part of the change:
