Our 2024 Guatemala Cleft Trip: Day Four of Surgery

Hola once again from the beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala, site of LWB’s 2024 cleft surgery trip.

LWB has been doing cleft surgery trips for 20 years now, and today we were honored to help our oldest ever surgical patient. We introduced you to Ronald in our first blog, a humble man who has waited 52 years for his cleft lip to be repaired. He arrived to the hospital at 6 a.m., excited for his big day.

Ronald, who works as a field laborer, told us that he tried to have his cleft lip repaired three times — at ages 10, 12, and 15. All three times, doctors refused, and he was told that he was too old for it to be repaired. Ronald gave up hoping that it would ever be repaired. Thankfully, a friend heard about our team coming to Guatemala and told Ronald he had to try once more.

Not really believing it would happen, Ronald came by himself to the hospital. He was so happy to learn the LWB team would take his case. Before his operation, we asked if he had any last questions. He quietly said, “You have made my life. I will be a new man when I come out.”

Dr. Tolan and Dr. Shehan worked together this morning, meticulously doing Ronald’s operation.

They operated on both his lip and nose, and we were all emotional when we saw the incredible repair.

When Ronald saw his new face for the first time, he was understandably overwhelmed. Tears came to the corners of his eyes as everyone kept saying, “Muy bueno…muy bueno.”

Before we dive into some of the other patients today, let’s look at a few before and afters from yesterday.

Yes, we are all oohing and aahing over the results!

One of the beautiful little girls who arrived for surgery today was seven-month-old Beth Ann, who is the only child in her family. Like many of the other women who came to the hospital this week, Beth Ann’s mom delivered her baby at home. When the midwife told her that her daughter had been born with cleft lip, a great sadness filled her heart, wondering whether her little girl would be accepted. She told us that it was very difficult for her daughter in the village as people view her so differently.

Beth Ann was brought to the hospital by both her mother and father. Her dad lays bricks for a living and is completely devoted to his little girl. While her parents were very scared for the team to take Beth Ann away for surgery, they know that their daughter will have a completely different life from this point forward.

Beth Ann slept peacefully following her cleft repair surgery, safe and sound in the arms of her mama.

Five-month-old David was one of the patients on Dr. Ness’s schedule today. He is the youngest of five children in his family. His mother was very emotional today, crying in the courtyard, wishing her little boy didn’t have to go through such a big operation.

She knew she had to grab hold of this opportunity, however, so that David can grow up without being shamed.

One-year-old Joseph also received surgery by Dr. Ness today. He was brought to the hospital by his grandmother because his mom went into unexpected labor on Monday! Joseph’s baby brother arrived two months early.

Joseph’s mom had brought him to our triage day on Sunday, so we wondered if the long journey could have contributed to her early labor. Thankfully, we were told that the baby is stable in the hospital – healthy but very tiny.

Speaking of tiny, Vinny is the smallest baby to see our team this week. During our intake exam on Sunday, we referred him for nutritional assessment and iron supplementation as mom said he struggles to feed. When another child was unable to come this week for surgery, the hospital asked if we would evaluate Vinny again.

After a lot of discussion, the team decided to move forward with the operation. We hope his lip repair will help him be able to feed better.

As our team left this evening, Little Vinny was calm and recovering on the ward.

Little April was the last patient of the day for Dr. Tollefson.

Talking to our nurses in the pre-op area, her mom got quite emotional. Following April’s birth, a local nurse told mom it was her fault that the baby was born with cleft lip since she had her three children very close together. Feeling responsible, she fell into a deep depression. We are so grateful to the local health promoters who work with the families to assure them it was nothing they did.

Many of our team members have come down with the traditional “tummy issues” that can come from traveling internationally, but everyone is powering through because the children always come first. The good thing about traveling with a whole team of medical professionals is they can quickly hang an IV bag for anyone severely dehydrated. PACU leader Lori Trumbo didn’t miss a beat between patients!

This week has absolutely flown by, and we can hardly believe just one more day of surgeries remains. Before we end this post, here are a few more photos of this really remarkable Thursday.

We have been blessed with so many compassionate volunteers who are giving their time and talents to help change lives. We are oh so grateful!

We are also so thankful for your support as well, as none of it happens without our wonderful LWB community. Please join us on a special journey of hope by supporting our medical program in Guatemala.

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