LWB’s 2024 Guatemala Cleft Surgery Trip

At LWB, we have a deep commitment to helping some of the world’s most vulnerable children who have been born with cleft lip and palate. Cleft lip and palate cause many serious challenges such as difficulty feeding, poor growth and overall development, dental issues, frequent ear infections, hearing loss, and speech issues.

Since 2004, we have sent international medical teams to China, Cambodia, and most recently Guatemala to perform life-changing cleft surgeries for children.

Taking Action

We are just days away from kicking off our next cleft surgery mission in Guatemala, with the first operation taking place on April 29 at San Hernando Pedro Hospital in Antigua.

This will be our second cleft trip in Guatemala, where we have found that there is a great need in rural parts of the country. The Guatemalan Ministry of Health estimates that cleft lip and palate account for 15% of all reported congenital anomalies in the country. Rural Guatemala is extremely impoverished, and that poverty presents many additional challenges for families with cleft-affected infants and children.

Children with an unrepaired cleft lip and palate can suffer isolation because their condition carries with it a negative stigma in some cultures around the world. We want to lift these children up so they can smile and speak confidently as a valued member of society.

Malnutrition is not uncommon in these regions and poses additional problems for children born with cleft. These little ones often have difficulty nursing or taking a bottle, so inadequate nutrition and high rates of infection are likely to hinder their normal growth and development. A recent analysis in Reproductive Health Journal indicates that 10% of children born with cleft in Guatemala will tragically pass away before 6 weeks of age. Providing surgery early in life is the best way to help ensure that they can survive and thrive.

Pre-Surgery Nutrition is Essential

To qualify for cleft surgery during our cleft medical mission, babies must weigh a minimum of 10 pounds and have an iron level of at least 10.

It is always difficult to have to tell an anxious parent or caregiver who has traveled so far for cleft surgery that their child is not healthy enough to undergo an operation. To make sure that message doesn’t have to be given to a single family who brings their child for cleft surgery, we are providing nutritional support to babies born with cleft lip and palate before our cleft surgery team arrives. We dedicate up to $15,000 per trip on this extra nutrition so that no child registered for surgery will have to be turned away.

A Team of Cleft Experts

We are thrilled to welcome back three amazing surgical teams led by Dr. John Ness, Dr. Christopher Tolan, and Dr. Travis Tollefson who have healed children on so many of our cleft trips in the past. Before cleft surgeries can even begin, the team sets up the operating and recovery rooms.

They will bring everything they need for surgery, from sutures, surgical instruments, and anesthesia meds, to the brushes and soap that they need to scrub their hands. After all this preparation, it is time for patient evaluation and intake.

Spotlight on a Child Waiting for Cleft Surgery

One of the many children ready to receive cleft repair surgery is little Melanie. She is four months old, and this will be the first surgery to correct her cleft lip. Isn’t she lovely? We adore her inquisitive little grin.

Melanie lives with her mother, father and big brother Jonathan who is two years old (and also absolutely adorable). In addition to caring for her children, mother Maria makes colorful huipils (Mayan blouses), working on them while the children are napping. It takes her four to five months to finish a single blouse!

Melanie’s father, Andre, is a farmer who works in strawberry fields and sometimes does manual labor such as digging wells.

Local Guatemalan health authorities are notified when a baby with cleft lip and palate is born in their district, and consequently Melanie’s family was referred to us for our upcoming cleft surgery trip. When their baby was born with cleft, Maria and Andre were feeling overwhelmed as they could not afford the surgery she needed. They felt it was a blessing from God when they learned that Melanie could have cleft surgery at no cost, as well has receive nutritional assistance.

Thankfully, Maria has been doing an excellent job of feeding her daughter, who already weighs more than the 10 pounds required for cleft surgery.

All that is left is to check into a hotel in Antigua, have the surgery, and receive additional instruction on post-op care. We can’t wait to see Melanie’s new smile!

Melanie is such a darling baby, and we hope you will check back to see how her cleft surgery (and the operations of dozens of others) will change their smiles and their futures.

If you would like to be a part of this life-changing effort to help cleft-affected children, please consider a gift to our Guatemala Medical Care program. We cannot thank you enough!

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