Smile Train Stories

Curitiba, Brazil — A note from the mother of one of our patients that was given to and translated by our partner CAIF/AFISSUR after the excellent care her son received during his free cleft surgery and follow ups.

Lucas is my first child. I got prenatal care in the Public Health System and the ultrasound did not show any problems, so I expected Lucas to be a normal baby. I was really shocked when he was born with a cleft lip and palate. Due to his cleft, he spent eight days in the hospital. At the beginning due to our shock over his cleft and the problems he had nursing, everything was very difficult for me and my family.

“For a long time, I felt guilty for Lucas’ cleft lip and palate. I assumed it was because of the way I acted during the time I was pregnant. However, after arriving at CAIF/AFISSUR, I was welcomed by a team of professionals and heard about Smile Train’s free cleft surgery program.

“With the help of this team and Smile Train, Lucas is getting high quality treatment and he can have a normal life just like other children his age. I don’t have enough words to thank CAIF/AFISSUR and Smile Train.”

Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo — Smile Train’s goal is to make sure that every child born with a cleft in the world has the opportunity to live a full and productive life, and the only way to accomplish this is through teamwork. Smile Train supporters provide us with the funds which we distribute to our network of partner hospitals, surgeons and hospital staff who work together in and out of the OR to give children new lives. Nowhere is this more evident than in our first operations in the Republic of the Congo.

Earlier this month, three of our best partners in Africa, Jooko Cleft Association (Senegal), AMREF (East Africa), and Sourire a la Vie (Cote d’Ivoire), visited the Republic of the Congo to provide free cleft lip and palate surgery and provide advanced training to a local surgeon and medical team. This mission was organized by Ms. Julienne Johnson of the Congolese organization FELBO. At Albert Leyono Clinic in Brazzaville, the team performed 50 life changing free cleft surgeries in 5 days and worked with the Clinic’s staff to start the training process to become a full time Smile Train partner.

In honor of their exceptional teamwork and the hope that Albert Leyono Clinic will one day become an official partner, we put together this poster featuring their patient, one-year-old Mesange Nsona. Visit Smile Train’s Facebook page to set the full sized version as your Facebook timeline cover and show you’re a part of the Smile Train team.

Lahore, Pakistan — Last week, Smile Train proudly welcomed our newest partner hospital, Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital. Led by Prof. Muhammad Afzal Sheikh and Dr. Farrukh Mahmood, the Arif Memorial team kicked off the start of our partnership in grand fashion: performing 40 free cleft surgeries in their first 3 days!

This remarkable start shows the team’s skills, dedication and commitment to helping children with cleft and the need for our programs in the area. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Arif Memorial to provide free cleft lip and palate surgery and related care to desperate children.

New York, NY — In honor of International Women’s Day, we decided to focus the spotlight on two of our leading women in the field, surgeons Sister Dr. Najjuka Liliana Lucy Gerardine and Dr. Jyotsna Murthy. These two remarkable surgeons have dedicated their lives to giving others a second chance at life and are a constant inspiration to our Smile Train community.

Sister Dr. Najjuka Liliana Lucy Gerardine

A Smile Train partner since 2008, Sister Dr. Najjuka, based at Surgical Centre Smile Train Mbarara in Uganda, is a leading force in delivering cleft care throughout Africa. Sister Dr. Najjuka has provided over 650 Smile Train sponsored cleft surgeries on a continent where surgery is a male dominated field.

She is both student and teacher; never passing up an opportunity to improve her surgical skills and organizing cleft missions focused on teaching more local doctors, both men and women, throughout Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and all of East Africa. She is currently in Burundi teaching a perspective local surgeon the proper techniques to one day become a Smile Train partner.

Dr. Jyotsna Murthy

More than a decade after her first Smile Train surgery in 2001, Dr. Jyotsna Murthy MS, M Ch, DNB has provided over 5,000 free cleft lip and palate surgeries. Not to mention all of the surgeons that she has trained and instructed as a professor at Sri Ramachandra University and on countless medical/training missions, including Sister Dr. Najjuka.

Her generosity and compassion know no bounds as she has spearheaded numerous initiatives in India for surgical care and has been integral in Smile Train’s development of new local partners. She is dedicated to not only repairing clefts, but understanding them as well and is involved in many research projects on the psychosocial problems that can develop from unrepaired clefts and the genetic study of how clefts form.

Kigali, Rwanda — Smile Train’s STOP Clefts initiative recently concluded it’s first phase of activities in Rwanda. STOP Clefts is a program to jump start potential new local partner hospitals in countries and regions that do not have a local team already using established Smile Train partners in bordering countries/regions.

The team provided 146 free cleft surgeries.

In conjunction with the University Teaching Hospital and the Ministry of Health’s public health specialist Dr. Bonaventure Nzeyima, one of Smile Train’s partners in Kenya, Help a Child Face Tomorrow provided training to local doctors and 146 free cleft surgeries.

Deeply religious, when Euginie and her husband’s baby girl was born with a cleft lip, they named her Patience — believing that patience in their faith would make her whole. Their strength and fortitude was rewarded as 6-month-old Patience received free cleft lip surgery at University Teaching Hospital.

While Patience was spared a life of ridicule and torment, Sitefano Niyibizi endured for 60 years before he could get his cleft lip repaired. He lost hope long ago since he never had the money to travel to the city and see a doctor. When he learned about the university’s bus collecting patients in his village, Sitefano dropped everything and hopped on board.. After his cleft surgery, he told the team “If I die today, I will die happy. Thank you for this gift.”

Check out more pictures at our STOP Clefts Rwanda facebook gallery.

Chandigarh, India — Movies and TV shows often joke about husbands forgetting their wedding anniversaries and trying to make up for it at the last minute, but at Smile Train partner Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, at least one couple will never forget.

Last year, when the PGIMER staff finished screening a 6-month-old boy with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, they happily told the parents that the surgery was set for the next day. When the parents told them that the next day happened to be their anniversary, the staff offered to reschedule. However, the parents insisted that the best anniversary present would be the chance for a normal life for their son. The surgery went ahead as planned and both his cleft lip and palate were fully repaired. Rather than exchanging gifts or a special dinner, they spent their anniversary in the children’s ward at their baby’s side.

They returned to the hospital on their anniversary again this year with a gift for the hospital staff — a smiling one-and-a-half-year-old.

Lima, Peru — One of Smile Train’s most prolific partners, Dr. Carlos Navarro, M.D. F.A.C.S. provides Smile Train sponsored free cleft lip and palate surgeries throughout Peru. While he is based out of Lima, he also travels to poor, remote, and rural areas of Peru such as Tarma.

This past weekend, Dr. Navarro and his team finished a two day stint at Hospital Santa Rosa in Lima where they operated on 12 children with clefts and one teenager. That’s 13 more new smiles and second chances at life! In mid-February, the team will be traveling to the Northwestern city of Sullana for the first time to provide surgery and care while evaluating the overall need in the region.

6-month-old Saul Hinostroza waits on his mother's lap for Smile Train surgery at Hospital Santa Rosa.

Saul Hinostroza in his mother's arms after free cleft surgery provided by Dr. Navarro. He'll have a lot to smile about when his sutures heal.

Salvador, Brazil — Two years ago, eight-year-old Taina Dos Santos was a shy girl. Hiding her mouth from strangers and even her family. She would go to school, but was constantly made fun of and teased. When her siblings started to be made fun of for Taina’s cleft lip and palate by their classmates too, it only made it harder for Taina and her family.

Taina was born with a severe cleft lip and palate. She had trouble eating and speaking properly. She relied upon her family for compassion and support when she was tormented by the outside world. Before her mother brought her to Smile Train Partner, Fundacion Pequeno Principe, she avoided catching her reflection in a mirror at all costs: ashamed at her birth defect that separated her from her schoolmates.

Tania immediately after her cleft lip surgery

All of that changed on a fateful April day in 2009, when Dr. Geza Laszlo Urmenyi repaired her cleft lip free of charge thanks to Smile Train donors, as her mother Cirlene explained.

The surgeries were a victory for me. My dream since Taina was born has been these surgeries. My daughter and I faced many difficulties to finally find cleft services in Martagão Gesteira. All of my children were disturbed at school. After Taina’s first surgery, it didn’t happen anymore and they could study in peace.”

Tania just prior to her cleft palate operation, two years after her cleft lip surgery

Cirlene, was unable to bring Taina back to repair her cleft palate until recently, but Taina’s surgery and progress has been followed closely by family and friends who have seen a metamorphosis in their little girl that they never thought was possible.

“Before Taina didn’t look herself in the mirror. Today she is different, she is proud and likes to use lipstick like her classmates. All of my friends and neighbors in the countryside followed Taina’s treatment and got very happy with the result. I cried a lot when I saw my daughter’s operation, but this time, they were tears of joy.”

On behalf of Taina and her family, thank you Dr. Urmenyi, your staff, and everyone who has made Taina’s transformation possible.