Hector Hinojosa and his family are all smiles today. Hector doesn't know it yet, but he is an important and notable two-year-old to many people. Hector is the 4000th patient to receive reconstructive surgery from Rotaplast Surgical Mission teams. Dr. Dennis Dundas (Kirkland) led the team in O.R. 1 that completed the landmark smile recovery at the hospital in Cochabamba, Bolivia on Saturday, May 4, 2002.
Hector was already a cute little two-year-old toddler when the Rotaplast team met him at the Cochabamba Rotary House the day before surgery. Hector has striking long black hair. Part of that hair was in a bow on Friday so a few people mistakenly remarked about what a cute little girl. And make no mistake about that, CUTE is the first word that comes to mind when you see photos of Hector before, and after, his cleft lip was repaired by Dr. Dundas and his O.R. team.
Cleft lip and cleft palate children are beautiful. What Rotaplast Surgical teams accomplish is an enhancement of that beauty emanating from the hearts of children like Hector. While many societies shun cleft palate and cleft lip children, parents like Hector's (and others we met) love their children just like any other Mom and Dad. It was that love that prompted Hector's parents to make a long journey to Cochabamba in the hope that their little one would be selected to receive the surgery paid for by Rotary Clubs that support Rotaplast.
Rotarians like Bill Rowley (Ellensburg, Washington) love these children too. Bill and Scott Rollins (Ellensburg) led the fund raising effort in District 5060 that made the Cochabamba 2002 trip a reality.
Bill spent hundreds of hours away from his business and his own family to visit Rotary clubs hundreds of miles apart to raise more than $53,000 in about eight weeks. Bill and Scott say it is the easiest thing they ever did in their lives. Walking the halls of the Cochabamba pediatric and maternity hospital with Bill, that passion is now focused on Hector and children like him.
Passing out stuffed animals as fast as he can pull them from a bag. Smiling to mamas. Hugging every child. Asking for names in Spanish conversation that is becoming less broken by the hour -- you see that Bill has the same love for each child that he does for Hector Hinojosa.
Bill and all the team members are savoring every moment of the 14-hour days in the hospital. But, you can also tell that in the back of his mind, Bill is preparing to raise the money to pay for the next trip.
Mission Director Mike Liberti ( Newbury, Maine) assembled this team with members from Washington, California, Maine, Canada, Massachusetts, Guatemala, Turkey, Bolivia and Florida.
To qualify for a Rotaplast surgery the patients need to be in good health. Age requirements are somewhat flexible - and eligibility for surgery seems to be based more on the examination of the doctors and the need they see in each child. The surgeons and pediatricians exam all the candidates at a screening clinic the day after arrival in a city such as Cochabamba.
At Cochabamba the lines were not as long as two years ago when the first Rotaplast team visited. So, it looks like, everyone seen that needs surgery will be served. One or two sent away because of illness are going to be checked before the team departs to see if they can be scheduled in our last two days. On the first day of surgery a television crew visited to film the news about Hector - prompting some walk-in visits on Monday and Tuesday that will get close to filling the surgery schedule for the remainder of the week.
As photojournalist for the Cochabamba team I have the awesome privilege and challenge of bringing the news of a Rotaplast miracle to this page. I can think of no other word to describe what is going on here. Bolivia is a very poor country. The medical reasons for the increased number of cleft palate and cleft lip children in developing nations like this are probably are not as important as the reality that many of these children live short painful lives of despair. They are often seen as defective or punishment from God that has stricken a family. But the end product of a Rotaplast Surgery changes that life outcome so dramatically - it is a miracle.
Wrapping a little one like Hector in a blanket after surgery nurse Leslie Recor (Renton, Washington) smiles at the precious cargo she carries gently into the Recovery Room. The team brought so many hand made quilts and blankets from a Rotary project in Maine, that every patient will leave the hospital with a new blanket. Rotarian Dave Divas (Bethel,Maine) the team quartermaster says he's not tired - he's invigorated by the challenge and ready to do it again.
I told myself I had seen a lot in life working as a volunteer chaplain and in the follow up to tragedies in the ER where I work in Sunnyside, Washington. But seeing the metamorphosis created by the team in OR 1 on a Saturday morning in Cochabamba did bring tears to my eyes. They tell me that feeling is pretty common around here. This team has been working on emotional fuel of joy and dedication that will keep us all going until the plane departs for Miami in a few days.
These photos can only bring you a glimpse of the joy team members feel. It is a joy that makes 14 hours on airplanes worth the effort. It is a joy that makes personal discomfort in living in a foreign land tolerable. It is a joy worth repeating as all Rotarians embrace the goal of elimination of untreated cleft pallet and cleft lip by 2025.
Fixing a cleft lip will help Hector Hinojosa have a pretty normal life in Bolivia. He will go to school, and if he is like most little boys, Hector will have more fun playing soccer than doing his studies. His mother and dad will remind him to work hard and study, and some day he will raise a family of his own.
It may sound like a fairy tale ending. And maybe it is. But, for Hector and his Mom and Dad it is a dream that came true because of Rotaplast.
Enviar correo