Thursday, January 22, 2009
Nearly all of the children who come for cleft repair are young…3 mo to 10 yrs…and most of those are under five.
Bernie Villar was 22 and had lived all his life with an unrepaired bi-lateral cleft lip. That means he had two splits in his lip and he was so self conscious that he never let anyone see his face. Our hotel owner, Noime, had employed Bernie at one of her farms and even she did not know until recently that he had a cleft deformity. If he wasn’t looking down and hiding his face under his cap he would hold a towel up to his face so nobody could see.
Yesterday, Dr. Don LaRosa, renowned plastic surgeon from Pennsylvania, repaired Bernie’s lip and made him handsome…so handsome that Bernie didn’t recognize himself in the mirror in the recovery room. His mother came in to see him shortly after the surgery and even she wasn’t sure it was her son.
Bernie still has a severe cleft palate that might be repaired on another visit to Santiago City but, for now, he is beginning to adjust to his new look. Because of his habit of being shy and hiding his face, all of the attention he got before and after surgery was overwhelming. And, because 16 or his teeth had to be removed ( 6 the day before and 10 in the morning before he was taken to the operating room) so the surgery could be successful he has a lot of healing to do. That healing will not only be on the outside but also on the inside. Bernie’s habit of covering his face is so strong that he even covered himself while being wheeled from the recovery room to the ward. That habit is going to be hard to overcome but, as soon as the ladies see him it might change. He is now a very handsome man thanks to the volunteers from Alliance for Smiles.
This evening the hotel staff hosted a banquet in our honor and there was more than enough laughter and tears to go around. Noime introduced each team member and asked each on to come to the front and share their thoughts about the mission. Then, she introduced 8 or 10 families she had arranged to be there…parents who brought their children who had received surgery at some time during the past two weeks. That really brought on the tears as we saw these little kids…one who was only 10 weeks old and whose parents had traveled 2 hrs to get here.
But the highlight was one young man, 14 year old Daniel Padcayan, who had never been to school because of the ridicule he received. After all the speeches and tears and hugging the hotel staff started playing Karaoke and Jill, our dental hygienist saw Daniel sitting on the chair….crying. She asked him to dance and that was when the fun began. It was like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. Daniel turned out to be a dancing machine and before it was all over he was dancing by himself in the middle of the floor surrounded by everyone there….cheering and whistling and clapping their hands. And his father was there watching his sun be the center of joyous attention for the first time in his life….and he was crying too. And now I’m crying again as I write this.
This evening was the most emotional of any of the 7 missions I have worked. And, that’s what makes all the work worthwhile.
Tomorrow is the final clinic…all the surgeries have been completed. All 117. We hope to see most of the patients again for the last time before we leave. But, we’ll be back again next year.
fowler
The 1st series of photos are of Bernie, his mother and the nurses. The last 2 are Daniel.