Here are photos showing four-year old Maricela with her mother on screening day, Monday, April 7, 2008, & on the very next day: Maricela's operation in progress & being completed by surgeons Drew Dillard & Antonio Rosal Alvarez, Maricela being held by Pat Plohman in recovery and then reunited with her parents while Emily Berglund checks her vitals in the pediatrics room.
But, pictures tell only a small part of the story...
Maricela's becoming part of the Iowa MOST 2008 story begins in a remote village ten hours travel ~ some on difficult, narrow dirt roads ~ from Xela. Francisco (Paco) Fernando, the Iowa MOST medical mission translator, explains that a non-profit humanitarian organization, Casa Colibri, established a medical clinic near Marciela's home in 2004.
On a medical mission to this rural clinic in November 2007, Paco served as a translator for the doctor conducting examinations. Paco's association with Dick Enders, Father Gerald Hagen and Rotarians Ulie Liechti, and Linda and Dr. Jay Eastman, all who have worked toward the development and management of the clinic, led him to become involved with Casa Colibri on a deeper level than as only a translator. The second patient to arrive at the November 07 clinic was Maricela. Paco saw the severe deformity of her cleft lip and was immediately convinced that he personally needed to ensure reconstructive surgery for Maricela.
Paco had served as translator for an Iowa MOST mission earlier theat year (February - March 2007) in Huehuetanango, and had witnessed the dramatic improvement for children who had undergone cleft lip/palate surgery. He said, "Last spring when I worked with Gary Pacha and Iowa MOST, I found a part of myself that I didn't know existed, that part of me that is deeply a human being, when I saw the change in the children who had surgery. It was almost as if their souls had been healed." He added, "It takes weight off the parents, too. So many of these people don't have access to medical services and no expectation of help, so providing it is important, and one feels in the gut, the enormity of it."
So, Paco told Maricela's parents to do all they could to keep her well and to be patient until the Iowa MOST mission came to Xela. He arranged through Casa Colibri for Marciela and her family to come to Xela on the weekend before the MOST screening. He felt certain, and the clinic doctor concurred, that Maricela would be a good candidate for surgery. She was accepted and had surgery on the first day that surgeries were performed at Xela.
The surgery transformed Maricela's appearance. Surgeon Drew Dillman used a specific type of surgery that Dr. John Canady had taught him. He was able to repair Maricela's severe cleft lip and open palate, and also keep her nose appearance normal. Drew smiled as he said of the surgery, "It's like being a baseball player, who normally has strong single base hits. Maricela's surgery was a home run."
Paco noted that a big problem in the rural mountainous regions of Guatemala is that parents often hide their children who have physical defects. They feel ashamed, and the children come to believe that their deformity is their fault. Some of the rural people feel that it is a spiritual thing, too, something to be accepted fatalistically. He said, "It is difficult to trespass this cultural barrier. Hopefully, with this example, others in Maricela's rural area will try to help their children and will overcome their mistrust."
As if that wouldn't be rewarding enough to witness such a life-changing event for these special children. I was able to carry the children out of recovery and place them safely into the arms of their trusting parents. Exchanging hugs and glances with tear-filled eyes, we would say our farewells with those precious moments imprinted in my heart forever.
