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Day Five of the 2012 Cleft Exchange – Final Surgery Day

Friday was a wonderful and exhausting day in Kaifeng as the LWB 2012 cleft trip entered its final day.

Baby Theo waiting for his turn

Ten surgeries were completed today, which brought the total number of children healed to 49. One baby had to be disqualified from surgery this morning due to infection, but we all agree that 49 lives changed is a wonderful accomplishment in just five days of surgery. Both the US medical team and the China medical team feel that the trip was a complete success, and they are already talking about when they can get together again in the future to help more children in need. Read more.

Day Four of the 2012 Cleft Exchange

Today one of the volunteers said it is a shame that these trips don’t last two weeks, as everyone has truly hit their stride, and the entire China/American team is working seamlessly together to help the kids.

Thursday morning was very busy as many rural families came to the hospital to check in and lots of babies were being discharged. The OR day began at 8 a.m. with two local children going into surgery for palate repairs. Xian was Dr. Ness’ first patient today. She is a very beautiful girl with a very attentive dad. Dr. Ness said that she was so lovely that he wanted to do a lip revision as well as her palate so that she wouldn’t have any scar at all. Read more.

Day Three of the Cleft Exchange: Happy Birthday, Dr. Ness!

All of us at LWB sure are happy that Dr. John Ness came into this world a few decades ago. Before we tell you about the surgery day, we just want to thank this very special man, who has traveled with LWB on cleft trips multiple times to change the lives of so many children. We had an extra special surprise for him today, when we asked him to sit back on one of the hospital beds so the very grateful nannies could make a “baby pile” on his lap in honor of all he has done. Following the photo, the nannies all sang a very special happy birthday song in Chinese to him. Later that night he was presented with a dragon cake, and we hope this was a birthday he will never forget. Read more.

An Incredible Day Two in Kaifeng

Tuesday was simply an incredible day for our cleft exchange in Kaifeng, with eleven children having their surgeries completed. The first cases started at 8 a.m. with Harris and Isaac heading to the OR. The ward was actually pretty quiet today, as the babies rested following their operations yesterday and the others napped before surgery. Little Asher has had some swelling following his operation, so his nanny from the Anhui Healing Home was sitting with him making sure his mouth stayed open so his airway was good.

Asher

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The First Day of the 2012 Cleft Exchange

It took quite awhile for me to fall asleep on Sunday night, as I was thinking about what a huge responsibility our team feels for the children who have come to Kaifeng this week for their cleft repairs. Before I traveled, I of course knew that we would be putting babies to sleep in the OR for their surgeries, but it wasn’t until yesterday, when I met these incredible kids in person, that the full weight of wanting everything to go smoothly became the heaviest. I am so grateful to all of the donors and supporters for LWB who are making these surgeries possible. The nannies and foster moms have such obvious hopes for their children to be healed. You are making such a difference in their lives. Read more.

Let’s Start This Journey!

It’s Wednesday morning and in five days, the 2012 Cleft Medical Exchange will commence surgeries for almost 50 children at Kaifeng Children’s Hospital in Henan Province. While I’m excited, my more overwhelming emotion is nervousness. I have been involved with Love Without Boundaries for eight years, but this is the first time I’m traveling on a medical trip. Performing 50 surgeries in a week is a daunting task in a familiar environment, but one can imagine the logistical issues of doing this from 5,000 miles away, in a state of the art, yet unfamiliar hospital, with many of the children arriving from hundreds of miles away. But therein lies the heart of why I adore LWB, and why I am honored to be associated with this wonderful organization.
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Zayden, Ohanna and Qing Await Cleft Surgery

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring, the season of renewal, has arrived, and with it brings our 2012 Cleft Exchange! Only nine days left until lives are changed for good. Today, we have added three new children to the list of those awaiting surgery. Read more.

An Adoption Story: Lauren Madelyn

With our 2012 Cleft Exchange Trip just around the corner, we are all very excited at the possibility of so many lives being changed. So when we heard from a family who adopted a little girl who was part of our 2010 cleft exchange, we thought it was the perfect time to share exactly what this surgery can do for a child.

When we started our China adoption journey back in 2007, we were thinking things would be fast since at the time referrals were being made in six to eight months. Things in China changed quickly, and the wait went on and on and on. Fast forward to August of 2010. We decided that it was time to think about switching to the special needs program in hopes of speeding things up. Read more.

Visiting Guizhou

The next part of our recent trip to China was to Guizhou Province, which is home to several minority groups, including the Dong, Miao, and Yi. As we reported last year, the Dong people live primarily in eastern Guizhou and are renowned for their beautiful songs about both nature and love. Their songs are very important to their courtship rituals, which always involve music. In early relationships the young men and women sing traditional songs, but as the relationship deepens, they will begin singing spontaneously to each other. We were blessed to be able to listen to several traditional Dong songs on our first evening in Guizhou.

The next morning we visited the new Qiandongnan orphanage facility, which opened earlier this year. This is truly a massive facility, with space to someday hold over 1,000 children. Read more.

Getting Ready To Change Lives: The 2012 Cleft Exchange

Our 2012 Cleft Exchange in quickly approaching.  In less than one month, four doctors from the United States will travel to Kaifeng, Henan and perform up to 40 cleft lip and palate surgeries.  At the same time they will be working with Chinese doctors and training them in the best methods of performing quality cleft surgeries.  It is our hope that through this training, more children in China will have beautiful cleft repairs for years to come.

Our last cleft exchange took place in Fuzhou in the fall of 2010 where thirty children received life-changing surgeries.  Most of the orphaned children who were a part of that trip have since been adopted by their forever families. Read more.