Madeline

Madeline is a ten-month old Wire Haired Pointer. She was in varying degrees of pain and discomfort when she came to Friends for Pets Foundation in Sun Valley, California. Madeline limped and hopped and we did not know why. FFP Founder Diane Monahan took her to the vet for x-rays. He could hardly believe what he found. The vet said he thinks that Madeline was hit by a car and that the impact drove her femur bone into her pelvis and "jammed it there". With no attention from her owner, it healed that way.

Diane intervened for Madeline and decided to have her see a specialist. FFP volunteer Dawn VerMeulen took her and discovered that FHO (Femoral Head Ostectomy) was the only treatment that would get rid of the pain and help her live a fairly normal life. When Dawn called Diane from the lobby of the specialist with the news - Diane did not hesitate and said "when can he do the surgery?" Madeline had the surgery the next day.

Madeline is in Dawn's care now as a foster, and getting 24/7 attention. She is going to professional physical therapy several times a week as well as Dawn providing physical therapy exercises with her two times a day on the off days. The surgery, x-rays, physical therapy, etc. will run FFP about $5,000 when all is said and done.

Because funds are limited, Friends for Pets is making a special appeal to help pay for Madeline's medical expenses. If you can help, send your check today with this mail in form or donate online now.

Prisca's Story

Operation Smile sprang into action sending emergency relief medical teams to Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12th 7.0 earthquake.

Our work is done in Rwanda...until next year

The Operation Smile mission is done here in Rwanda. 248 surgeries performed. Lives changed forever. And so the team sets off for home wherever that is around the world. I am heading to California, but lucky for me I'll be returning in a few months to visit some of our patients at their homes in the remote villages. By then their faces should be mostly healed and their lives settled into a new place in their families and commu nities. This will give me a glimpse into their futures. School, friends, marriage...opportunity.

So now it is off to Nairobi, on to London and then over the pole to Los Angeles and my waiting family. I for one am richer for the mission in Rwanda.

This is Marceline's Day

Little Marceline was born with a deformity. The hole in the center of her face marked her as an outcast. In the hole was a lump of protruding dental material. She was a monster, an animal according to people who lived near by her. The villagers called her names and beat her. She was shunned and had no friends.

But today her life has changed forever. After only an hour in surgery she has a new smile. Anil, her surgeon, did a spectacular job. The tiny stitches will soon disappear. Marceline will go back to her village now, to her family, and they will all be as amazed as we were.

When Marceline looked at herself in the mirror she said, "Who is this beautiful girl?" That is why the Operation Smile medical team volunteers their time and talent. That is what keeps bringing them back for another mission in yet another country. What wonderful people.

Marceline will get her smile

 

Harry Potter gets his day!

 

Stories to the heart

This is Eugenie. She looks like a ten year-old, but she is 14. Stunted and malnourished as a result of extreme poverty and a cleft lip. But that's not all. Eugenie is an orphan who until two years ago was wandering the streets begging for food and shelter. That is until a kind-hearted woman saw her and took her in as her own.

They traveled by foot and bus for hours to reach Kagali where they had heard that doctors were coming to perform surgeries for free. Realizing that this might be the only chance for Eugenie to get her lip fixed they anxiously awaited to see if she would be picked. And she was, but with hesitation because her red blood count was low and she had a cold. She needs to be monitored this week to make sure she is well enough for surgery. But if she is (and I hope she is) she will get her life-changing surgery on Friday. What a day that will be.

Yesterday afternoon when I visited the post-op area of the hospital I saw a boy we have dubbed Harry Potter because of the sweatshirt he was wearing. Jean, his real name, had just come from the recovery room with a new smile. Walking at his side was his father, carrying an IV. I asked the father what he would say to the people on the other side of the world who had helped make this surgery possible. He thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know what to say. I don't have any words to express my feelings." Then he turned to his son and told me, "Everything I want to say is written on his face." Enough said.

Dancille and her cousin

Three year old Dancille has been teased and shunned all her life. But this week her life will change. On Thursday she will go into surgery with a broken face and come out with a brand new smile forty-five minutes later. She will be one of the 248 children this week who will get a new chance at life. Able to eat, drink, speak and go to school just like other kids.

When I look at her I see hope and that is enough to make it all worthwhile.

Mission going well

Our medical mission for Operation Smile is going well here in Rwanda. In the last two days over 372 people with cleft lip or cleft palate have been screened by the international team. Most of these are children with cleft lips, but there are adults, too, up to age 80.

Last night the surgery schedule was prepared and today it will be announced to the waiting crowd of hopeful families. The good thing is that more than 200 will be able to get surgery this time. The bad/sad news is that the rest will be turned away to wait for another opportunity for surgery, hopefully next year. There will be many unhappy families.

Sent Harrison Ford a DVD

Harrison Ford received a DVD today that I had sent him from our trip to Haiti. He and his co-pilot Terry Bender did a fantastic job of getting medical volunteers and supplies in to the desperate people who had been injured and left homeless by the earthquake a little over a month ago.

Now, this afternoon I head off to Rwanda where I will participate in a 2-week medical mission with Operation Smile. The result will be another TV special bringing attention to their great work throughout the world with children suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate.

Off to Rwanda tomorrow for Operation Smile

I leave tomorrow for Rwanda with a television production team from Canada and the US to produce a new television special about the amazing work Operation Smile does each month around the world.

Operation Smile’s international missions are conducted throughout the year in hard-to-reach places throughout the world. International missions involve up to 60 medical volunteers who travel to partner countries to provide surgeries for children over a two-week period.

Operation Smile’s partner countries also facilitate treatment for facial deformities, either by conducting medical missions on the local level or by conducting year-round programs in existing health facilities or through the development of clinics.