Surgeons in the east African nation of Kenya have had to remove an eye from Tigard-based missionary Carol

Briggs after gangsters stopped her car and shot her in the mouth Feb. 4.

Dan Cammack, pastor of the Tigard Community Friends Church, said Briggs faces at least two more operations. But he said she was able to recognize her grandson, Derek, who left Oregon last week to be

with her.

"I can't help but think that he is some of the best medicine

she could have right now," Cammack wrote in a newsletter to church members.

Briggs, 64, moved to Kenya in November as a medical volunteer to help orphans with HIV. She's in a hospital in the capital of Nairobi.

The gangsters also shot prominent African AIDS researchers Job Bwayo and his wife Elizabeth, who were riding with Briggs. He died and his wife is recovering in the same hospital as Briggs.

Briggs is a retiree with no health insurance and medical costs have topped $21,000.

Donations can be made to the Carol Briggs medical fund through the Tigard Community Friends Church, P.O. Box 230117, Tigard, OR 97281, or at any U.S. Bank.