We told you about a surgery team from the LEAP Foundation that came to operate in Port Nov 1-4 and wanted to give you an update.  There were seven patients that went and had consultations done by the surgeons.  There were three that actually got surgery.

Anack was the most dramatic change.  He stayed with us after surgery for two weeks to make sure everything healed well after cleft lip surgery.  He and his father were ecstatic!  He will need further surgery in April to repair the cleft palate (inside).  Amazing!  I love watching the healing of body and spirit after these types of surgery.

S. does not have a cleft lip, but does have a large cleft palate.  The roof of her mouth was opened.  Surgery was done to close this gap.  It mostly healed except for towards the back of her mouth.  She will need additional surgery and follow-up as she grows.

John Kenley was born with a severe posterior hypospadias.  It has taken several years for us to find a surgery team that could do this repair and we were so happy for him to finally get this repair done.  His mother is so happy and hopeful for her son now.  He is healing well, but has a minor infection that is clearing up.  He is expected to make a full recovery.

There were 4 that they could not help at this time.  Three of those got appointments for April and one was referred to another hospital.

Ivelda has has cleft lip surgery during a prior LEAP team visit.  She was returning to get some repairs done to her gums and inside of her mouth.  It was determined that she did not need surgery during this visit, but she will continue to follow during future teams.

The man was referred to another hospital.  We ended up taking him to 5 different hospitals seeing several doctors, but he died on Saturday from advanced cancer.

Jusmi and Isabella have an appointment for April.  Jusmi was still too small for surgery.

They would like for Isabella to grow and develop more before they decide to do any surgery on her mouth.

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Thanks to everyone who helped us with a donation to be able to send these patients in to the surgery team, to other hospitals, help with food and other expenses, and care for those that got surgery as they recovered.  We couldn’t do this without you.  A special thanks to the LEAP Foundation for their hard work and efforts in helping these patients and others.