Over the years of MOST we have seen several individuals come back for additional procedures. Luis was first seen by MOST dentists, Steve Aquilino and Bill LaVelle, in 2007 when he was 13 years old. He came with a repaired cleft lip and with the hopes of surgery to repair his cleft palate. Sadly the gap in his hard palate was too large to be repaired, but a prosthesis was made to cover the roof of his mouth, making it possible for him to eat and drink without food going up into his nose. He also now would have the potential to develop his speech. He had no front teeth so 6 teeth were included in the prosthesis, another life changing procedure. Luis still had some baby teeth and his mouth was transitioning so he would be able to use the new prosthesis for a limited time. An accident caused the usability of his prosthesis to be even more limited when Luis fell face first off a balcony damaging the prosthesis. Local orthodontist, Rita Morales, had seen Luis and did some repairs to last until the next MOST mission. Luis came back to MOST in 2009 to have his prosthesis adjusted. Now, in 2011, Luis returned to MOST to have a new prosthesis, appropriate for the size of his mouth. We may not see Luis again. His life has been changed.
Another returning patient is Deniss. He was first seen by MOST in Huehue in 2007 when he was 2 years and 8 months old. Traveling from their home in a small village in the area of Cuilco it was a difficult several hour trip. At that time he had a cleft lip repaired. In 2010 Deniss and his family traveled to Xela, an even longer trip, with the hopes for a palate repair, however his mouth was too infected with bad baby teeth. Instead it was first necessary to have 18 of his baby teeth extracted and allow his mouth to heal. We saw Deniss again this year for the third time and now he will have surgery on his palate. After three visits we expect Deniss to be onto a life of being a normal, happy young boy.
There are moments when the value of our mission strikes at our hearts. That moment happened this morning when Carolina and her mother were ready to leave the hospital and return to their home. Carolina had cleft lip surgery yesterday. Mama holding her precious one-year-old baby came to say her thank yous and good-by. With tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks, she emotionally shared her feelings. "I did not want to take my Carolina out in public. People were cruel. There had always been so much sadness and now there is no sadness. May God grant you many blessings. May God bless you. Muchas gracias..." and again and again and again. And we cried tears of joy with her.
