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: COURIERMAIT.COM.AU

ONE HOUR

Lucky Wednesday who was born wrth a cleft lrp was burred

alrve by her father rn Cambodra Lucky for her she was

drscovered and rs now aboLrt to underpo lrfe changrng

surgery, writes Mike Bruce

VF.RYO\| is trlkingai>out Luckr' \Vednt's-da\'. Ir hushsl tones.the ne\\s of h(r'inrpcnding aII\ rl sprerds

through the hospitrl.,\t ju5t ts! nronths old,

Luck)' Wednesda) is already a

nationil celebrity ior the mostpitiiul ol reasons.

Hours after her brdh on Aprill(l in a provrnce of :outherstCambodia, hcr tathcr took herto the grounds of r tenrpl(' rndburied her alirc. His rcason? Shtnrs born rvith a clt'ft lip.

\lost of the 25 voluntL'erstiom not-for'proiit surgicilgroup Operution Snrilc gath-frcd at the hospital in ruralClambodia loda) havc witnessedthe lenible sadness thirt rL'sults

irom prejudice rnd e\'('n rlrocitlt\ conrmjtted agrinst chlldren*rih rleft lip of palatr'. ( hildrenhlc been bullrccl rti!r).1ti\ed.rhunned. ocn abrndonrd lrrtl)r'rr ftnilles and c(nr)nruDiti('s.Ilut thr wocill tirlc o1 littlei,uck) lvednesda]' nrrrks asorn fist.

She rvas discovcrcd lbout lnhour irfter her burial ltv borspla\ lng nearb\. I hc\ hcard hernruUlcd cries and ill(rlsl nlonkswho spcd her to thc lo("1 hospi-tal where doctos christcncd herI-ucky Wednesda\'. Ily theweekend her molher hadnanrcd her Kong Sokthida.lodal she has hrought hcf t0the hospital of Sval' Rirng. a

slcepv town of 10.0i)0 lxople atthe south-eastcm reach ol Crnr-l)odia. w here \ oluntccf Austrr-lian surgeons. iinacsthctisls.Duhes, speech pathologists rndDsvchologists are on il nriss()nto pedbmr. predoninantly, clclllip rnd palate surgcrf. Nlosthrve laken innual lclvr'. sonreh$e left behind ]oung lilnrilieslit lhc cight dal s of thr nrission

'fhe ston of littlr l.uckv\\'edne\da) shocks rnd n)ovL,s

thr'm t!ithout e\ception Sokthida rnives at thc hospitrl still inthat si{eet place of rvondcr rndbcwildement al the wofld. Andthrnktully oblivious to h0 \tory.

I ler nrother is a mix oi reliefand shame. She strugglos to lookthe medical team rn the e\'('. uncrsv rt the luss eddving rroundher She has said publicl! sht'\lants her husband. r 19 )car-ol(l schooltcachcr. rclcirsed lionr

prison s(nrcthrng whrch nran]fail to unds\tlnd aftr'r an adthat so l)etravs the instin{ts olparenl ing

\rtionrl nrtrlia repoded the 7father did it hecause he

''couldn t l)crr thc sight 0f hercleli. P .hul lhcrr'11r.r\ h(,{herhazicr crplrrnlrl r, 'n:

David l'ruitnrn. r dircctor olOperation Snile Cambodia.sa]'s the incid('nt j\ svrlptomaticof the misundcntrndinS rroundclefting in sonrc cullures. cilingaccounts oI prrfnts lbandoningchildren on the \ide ol thc roadorto extend(al funril!

Dcpcnding on the culture. a

cleft can lle scen ts a cu$e. anact of an rngr',\' god or gods.

kamrr, a nrrnilestrtion ol nrlthor nr!stici5lr (n tn intelledualdisabilit\ that \tc\ kids shunnedand rdicu[r] on a practicallevel. rn lruntri* sueh ar Canrl)odii i!ith no lrt'r'ht'rlthcare. itGn aiso he seen rs a liletimc ojnredicrl hills rnri, thcrcfore, a

sentence of inrpovcriihment.

t !l.l(lam, the telnr ilililesafter a thfR'hour drivefrom Phnon Penh irnd

fans out through thr'hospitalIke conrnlndos on r riiid. tak-ing up stations in crinlped. llasicfacilitres rvhich can bt'kindll de-scribed as lLrndionrl.

Parts ol th(' hosfital are, b)'west!'rn standards, lllthv. An informal rubbish tip has fomredoutside it side (loor ol thc hospi-tal. a tcnnis-court \ized patch\cattered \\rth littfl and binbags. \1o\t \ oluntfon llssure neconditrons arc prcttv good blusual nri\sion stirndards.

At one t'nd ol the building, a

medical tcchnicirn s('ts up thrccoperaling trl)lcs in two smalltheatnrs, rvhilr nufscs squeezcand manoeuvre thfr,r'brrls intoa stofrroonr to creatc ii nlake-shift recrrren roonr. Across thelols rs r posl op roomqammed rvith scvcn beds, itswalls hded rnd pcrling.

StirlT buzz bolwc(.n roonrs.shifting and unprcking 80 ltrtgeboxes oi nr('di(al (luipment.enough lirr 125 ptticnts. l.hcbo\es havc b('$ shipp0d lronlOperation Smilds herd office inVirynrjr in tlrf t:nilcd States.underlining htxr rvithin l{) ) eanthe llrdv has gonc lronl onewell-irtentj0nrd \ufgeon to a

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counf ERMAf t.coM.Au 5vN0AV JULY 28 zAM AGEilDA 47

global charityjuggemaut that in2012-13 perfomed almost21,500 opemtions in 37 countriswith 3700 volunteen world-wide. This Austnlian mission,funded by Lions Australia, com-prising 25 Aussie volunteen md17 from Cambodia India and theUS, is asmall cog in abigwheel.

dsbane anasthetist Ver-r' -i non Mm hslostcountofi' ' the ovemeas missions he's

done At least one ayear, mostlytwo, since 1998, hethinks,

.Not sure," he pondeN. "lt'sprcbably more than 30, but it'sthe l2th forOperation Smile."

Brisbane paediatric nuneKate Cogill, 41, is another She'son her l5th mission for whichshe'staken annual leave and lefttwo-year-old son Charlie athome forthe fist time.

She got hooked after her firstmission to lndia in 2005 and hasinceworked in The Philippins,Kenya Vietnm and Cambodia.All on her om time. Cogill sayscleft surgery delivers the mostbang for buck and an instantgratification that has an addic-tive quality.

"Much intemational aid is

valuable, but you don't se results for a long time," she ex-plains. "With this you se a kidtum up and within an hour theproblem is genemllyrepaired and gone.You see it soquickly and you

reeit partiolarly on theparentsfacs. That's so powerful. Andfor that kid, ever,,thing changd... but itchangestheirfamily andtheircommunity aswell."

For Brisbile consultant plas-tic surgmn Raymond Goh, 38,

the satisfaclion is twofold. It'sthat shoft act ofchanging someone's features by millimetres,yet leaving such a powerful leg-acy on how they look, talk oreat, but most impoftantly theirplace in theworld.

"And it's notjust the patients'rsponsg but their parents',"Goh explains. "They'vegot tea6in their ey6 when they bringtheir kids in, they hand themover to omplete stranges andree them emerge with a full lipand whole new life. I can't de-rribethat feling."

But Goh saysequally rewild-ing is thetraining ofsurgmns inthe host countris to enablethem to aeate local mpacity.

.'n Austnlia it's a quick and

: mostly routine op€ration., done in the fint months oflife. Yet in developing countries,cleft kids are often adults beforethey undergo surgery. In MaeSot in Thailand's northwst,Opemtion Smile staff opemtedon a mm who'd lived with his

cleft lip for 67 yean.

being perfomeddiffer be- ,

twen countries and olturs,Goh says. It can beresources, fa-cilitjes, training or simple will.Cambodia, for example, hasaround 15 plastic surgmns,about five ofwhom can do cleftsuryery. (Thre are on this mis-sion.) With no established pro-gnm of training, Cambodiansurgsns are forced to go over-se6 ifthey want to leam.

Interestingly, thethre AustmliansurPeons on the , ,,'miiion all div-ide their timebetwen public ,and private -

work. Much of -

the latter dealswith facelitu,breast implants, lipo-suction or Botox. Predict-ably, taking annual leave to doan opemtion (valued at $240)that an tmnsfom a life onprove a ontmt, an exerose inhumility. All volunttrs talk ofmi$ions in tems of a realitycheck, coming down to eanh, aprism of gmtitude throughwhich we view our own, com-fortable livs so differently.

By mid-moming, about 50psple have gathercd under arainbow-coloured marqure inftont ofthe hospital, some wait-

thre houru fromPhnom Penh. It'sa glonous dis-play of the uni-venality of

parenthmd the prmf that par-ents will do an],thing for thehealth ild happiness of theirkids.

One ofthose kids is Chom, a

four-year-old with a cleft lipwho's miling md lashing out atstaff trying to take his ID pic-ture. Child psychologists smninteNene and take Chom out-

side to play gams andblow bubbles to calm

him down. Hesuckles his moth-

.- : er's brest fte-quently. eventhough she hasno milk.

Child Lifethempist Rajna

Shama asks themother ifhe's in hospi-

tal forthe fint time.Chom has never even ben

past the gat6 of his familyhome, let alone to a hospital, hismum explains. At four, h€ hasnever engaged with a worldasideftom hisparents and sevensiblings, perhaps 6 a r6ult ofhis parents'fear, perhaps his

own."He is completely non-social

... he hm likely ben bullied andteased," Shma explains."Th6e kids can remain ranedby their expedence and oftenfind it hnd to reintegmte backinto smiety."

Shesaysmany parents fel sohelpless and hopeless with acleft child, their response mtrh-anism is often to isolatethe childfrom thecommunity.

A prusion of hope flows

through the doo6 during theday. Cleft lips, cleft palata,groMhs, scars, bums and "revi-sions" or fine;sing of existingcleft scan.

A young girl tums up withhidmus bum ras to her hmdthat have fused her thumb toher palm and some of her fin-ge6 into aweb.

"Easily fixed," says Perthplastic surgeon Mark Le, whodetails a procedure of zigag in-cisions and a graft of skin frcmher hip to repair it.

An elderly man with a port-coloured vasculargrowth on theright sideofhis face is lurkingbythe stain when Melboume sur-gmn David Chong rcognireshim. Chong opemted on theman in 2008, caruing offa hugelump of th€ groMh, but the 68-yen-old dce fam€r hs cometoday hoping surgmns Gn haveanother mck at the regrom,debilitating tumour.

''Yep, we've got room,let's doit " says Chong enthusiastically,as he discuses the probable ap-proach with colleagues. It's atough job requidng "huge skingnfting" and possibly gnftingsome of the bottom lip to thetoplip lt's a tough job in an Austm-lim hospital, let alone onewhere most patients are dis-charged and sent home afteroneday.

.:' hong, on his lgth mi$ion, and 5th in Cambodiar. alone, is repeatedly moved

by patients'stods, by their dig-nity and humility in the face ofsuffering and isolation.

One boy in particulil on thismission has stolen his heart.He's a25-year-old with a deft lipand cleft palate. He's now tmold to have the palate repaired,but Chong repain the lip andquickly reconstructs the boy'snosto realign itto his new face.When Chong visits him in re-covery late on day two, he shedsa tear

"Ever,.thing about that kid'slife will change - his familystructure and dynmi6, the re-action of his community tohim," Chong uys. "He'll livewith that palate for the rest ofhis liie ... but he hs some hopenow, he on look psple in theeye, he's a boy who might nowlmk foMard to marrying in aountry where maniage is so

important. Being able to do thatfor him maks me fel reallygrateful and very blessed."

And m for Lucky Wednes-day, the wonderful news is she'llbe having surgery in PhnomPenh in two months'time.

nike"brse(glnil'.om.auMike Bru.e travelled to Canbodia

coutrgy of Lionr Australia.

Info: 0perationrmile.org.auThe reasons why simple cleftlip and palate surgery isn l

ing since early moming. Somehave travelled far. one

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