Granada Nicaragua for Operation Smile

What a day in Nicaragua

A million dollar day for us today. Roma Downey and her daughter Reilly did a stellar job with our NEW bilateral boy, Eduardo and his beautiful and graceful mother, Noemi. They sat with Noemi and Eduardo gently learning of the horror his mother felt at his birth with a bilateral cleft lip. When Noemi went to a pediatrician all the way in Managua, he told her that a team from Operation Smile was going to be in Granada the week of the 21st. He told her to drop whatever else she was doing and get to the hospital. It would be Eduardo's only chance.

Eduardo was handed off to the nurses at the door to the operating room leaving his mother full of anxiety...and hope. Forty-five minutes later Roma delivered Eduardo into his mother's arms, a boy with a brand new smile and a whole new chance in life. With hugs and kisses Roma, Reilly and Noemi celebrated Eduardo's new birth.

Then Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor which is shooting in Nicaragua, hit the mission site and got to experience the miracle of Operation Smile surgery first hand. He saw our little 6 year-old boy Johan go into surgery. Jeff was very interested in everything. He got the fine points of anethesia from one of the best in the business and looked over the shoulder of a world-class surgeon as stich by stich Johan was transformed. Then in post-op Jeff learned from Johan's mother, Erica, just what life was like for Johan growing up with a cleft lip and being called "cleft boy" by other kids. She told him that even though Johan was constantly ridiculed and teased, he never gave up. Now he won't have to. Jeff turned to the camera and in no uncertain terms encouraged viewers to get off the couch and do something wonderful. Do something for someone less fortunate. Do something that matters.

What a day in Nicaragua. The team will be here for two more days, but Jim and I fly out tomorrow, heading home richer by far and full of memories that will last a lifetime.

Operation Smile Nicaragua

Roma and Reilly did a great job relating to kids and their families. About 50 kids showed up for screening. The vast majority were revisions, 8 were cleft palates. There were 5 kids with lips. One was a facial cleft girl, 6 months old. The surgeons are putting her on the schedule later in the week, but say that the result will not be good and that she will require several surgeries to fix her lip and nose. Two other lips were girls, one 2 months old, one 3 months old. We settled on 2 boys, both named Christopher, one is 7 months old and the other 14 months old, but looks 6 months. Reilly and Roma really took to the little boys and their mothers. We followed these boys through screening and one boy, the 7 year old, who has a revision, but he is a cutie named Johan. The two younger boys and the young girls with lips were all rejected because of illness (blood count, infections, fevers, etc). Roma and Reilly were devastated even though the local team promised that these kids will get their turn soon. That leaves us with Johan who is on the schedule for tomorrow morning. We'll follow him and also pickup another kid (hopefully a girl) from Pre-Op tomorrow. Three surgeries were performed this evening. A tongue tie, a revision and a cleft palate. Reilly and Roma did a stand up intro, related to the camera during screening and then did an end-of-day recap. They work well together. They were wet dishrags going back to the hotel...as were we all. Tomorrow we will follow Johan from 7:30am to 10:30am, see what other kid we can follow, then plan on getting some reflections from Roma and Reilly of the mission experience, record some VO. The Survivor team arrives in 2 groups. Group one comes at 8:00am for a couple of hours. Jeff arrives at 10:30 and leaves at noon. All of this is happening at the same time as our scheduled kids, but we'll do what we can. The team is a good one. Well organized. They have scheduled 32 surgeries and hope to do a few more depending on time and health of patients. That's it from Nicaragua. Best to you all back in the states.

Granada, Nicaragua

Jim Jack and I met at the airport yesterday morning and made our way to Houston where we met Roma Downey and her daughter, Reilly, at the gate of the second leg of the trip to Granada, Nicaragua. Landing in Managua several hours later it was hot and humid.

A forty minute car ride brought us to Granada. A dinner at an outdoor restaurant and then back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before our taping begins. The heavens opened up shortly after getting into my hotel room and the roof leaked right above the table where I had stored all my gear. I moved it quickly and went to sleep to the sound of rain pounding away.

Now it is 5 am and after a cold shower in the bathroom down the hall I am organizing equipment for the day. We'll meet Roma and Reilly at the hospital and see the families who will have come from far and wide hoping to get surgery for their children.

All in all, it's good to be here for Operation Smile in Nicaragua.

To Nicaragua with Roma Downey

Tomorrow morning JE Jack and I head off to Nicaragua for Operation Smile. We will be going with Roma Downey and her daughter, Reilly, to document a local medical mission there where up to 50 lucky children will get their cleft lips and cleft palates repaired for free.

Roma and Reilly will be the eyes, ears and hearts of our viewers as the mission unfolds.

Jim and I count ourselves as lucky to travel with them and view the good work of Operation Smile once again. We are going on this assignment for ad agency Russ Reid Company.

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.
--Anonymous

Another go at Slideshow

Operation Smile - Amazing Grace

Marceline and Jacqueline

Today was our last full day in Rwanda this time around. We set out just after daybreak to find Marceline, a girl who had had surgery on her cleft lip back in March. Her cleft was a pretty severe one. A hug hole in the middle of her face with teeth all heaved and shoved around. So when we saw her walking up the hill toward us we were curious to see what her new face would be like. The closer she got the better we could see that a miracle had taken place. There was now a new more confident girl. We enjoyed the fact that she was wearing the hospital gown that she had worn during her surgery. She wears it now as a badge of honor. A constant reminder of her new beginning.

Marceline lives with her father, mother, brothers and sisters in a small one room mud house, crumbling in the hot sun.

The whole community came out to greet us with songs, smiles and hearty handshakes.

Marceline sat on a bench in front of her house and told me, "Before I got my lip fixed, my life was miserable. After I got surgery I was very happy. Especially when my name was called when they were selecting the ones who would get surgery.

Now I am very happy. I now am able to drink using a straw. Other kids have been telling me that now I look beautiful, and this makes me feel so good in my heart.

May God bless whoever contributed to get my lips fixed. All of you and doctors who fixed my lips I thank you so much.



We gave our goodbyes and went down the red dusty road and cow track to find Jacqueline, another of the girls we had followed through surgery. By phone in another town her uncle gave us directions. And miracle of miracles, we arrived at Jacqueline's house. We were greeted warmly by Jacqueline and her tall statuesque mother.

Jacqueline is in P3 grade at school. She, too is tall and beautiful. And the surgery has given her an almost perfect smile. With much singing and waving we left Jacqueline to make our journey back to Kigali before nightfall. And so our trip through Rwanda is coming to an end. We have visited with four of our TV kids and two bonus kids as well.

Through their stories, warm embraces and smiles we have learned first hand what a tremendous difference Operation Smile makes in the lives of children and their families.

Adeline in Rwanda

We visited Adeline today. She lives with her grandfather and her mother high on a hill overlooking a fertile valley. She told me that she doesn't want to remember the "old" Adeline, the one with the hole in the middle of her face. Years of taunting and teasing has left emotional scars. She had gone to school, but quit because of the way the other kids treated her. Today she has a new smile and a new life. She is no longer called names. People don't laugh at her anymore and at school she tells me, they must think she is a new student, because she is treated well, just like other "normal" kids. So for her the past is just that...past and gone. Today is a new and happy time.

Adeline said, "Before the surgery I was not happy with my life. Other kids were laughing at me. They teased me. The kept calling me "Cleft Girl" and "the girl with ughly lips."

Now I am happy because now I am going to school and other kids are not teasing me. Now I have a new life. Cleft Girl is now history. I don't even want to think about it. I want to thank all the people who contributed to get my lips fixed. Thank you so so so much!"