A Mission of the Heart... A Vietnam Vet Revisits the Past to Brighten Others' Futures

Ashamed. Shunned. Ostracized. Words understood all too well by those with facial deformities- like Bob Perkins. As a young man, Bob's life was changed in an instant when he was shot in the face while serving as a Marine in the Vietnam War.

Constantly enduring the torment of wide-eyed stares, expressions of shock and negative remarks from strangers, living each day with a missing jaw was a challenge for Bob. He spent years undergoing numerous reconstructive surgeries- just for the chance to look "normal" once again and find acceptance in society.

It was during this time that he befriended Dr. Bill Magee, Co-founder of Operation Smile, and became aware of the many children suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates. Through his own personal experience, Bob felt a connection to these children- children who know the pain caused by rejection. This connection led Bob to a new chapter in life as an Operation Smile volunteer.

As a dedicated volunteer for nearly a decade, Bob has served Operation Smile in many ways. He has packed Smile Bags for patients, brought comfort and joy to patients on medical missions in the Philippines, and served as an Operation Smile speaker- and continues to do so today. Of his work with Operation Smile, Bob has said it has been "one of the most gratifying experiences of my life."

This summer, Bob was presented with the opportunity to volunteer during another medical mission. The goal: help children suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates. The location: Vietnam.

(Source: Operation Smile)

Watch Bob's video interview and read my blog about the medical mission in Vietnam: Vietnam Mission

Bob Perkins, Vietnam War veteran, and I.

June 16th, 2012: Team Day

           After an exciting week of surgery, our international team decided to take a day off to relax by visiting Ha Long Bay in the Quang Ninh province. As one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Ha Long Bay is a beautiful waterway composed of thousands of limestone karsts and isles. We were fortunate enough to sail the vast bay and witness all of the stunning views it has to offer us.

            Our team was also able to climb up one of Ha Long Bay’s limestone islands, an exhausting but gorgeous journey through the tree and insect infested rock face. At the tip of the crag, we entered the Hang Sung Sot, a mountain cave covered in smooth and beautiful phallic rock formations. The immense cave provided us with a cool atmosphere after our difficult trek up the mountain. We slowly walked through the illuminated cave, observing the haunting animal and Ho Chi Minh formations created by the cracks and crevices of the phallic rocks.

Some members of our team (Shirley Cheung)

            After departing the cave and descending the limestone island, our team traveled to one of Ha Long Bay’s famous beaches. We were able to relax in the bay’s blue-green water under Vietnam’s gorgeous sun. After cooling off at the beach, our team sailed back to shore, and then traveled back to Hanoi to get ready for our departure from Vietnam the next day. 

Ha Long Bay (Google Images)

Some photos from our Final Party!

Child-life specialist and nurses pose for a photo. (Arielle Sasson)

Program coordinators Joey Feduniewicz and Toan Nguyen speak about our team's success during the final party. (Arielle Sasson)

Program coordinator, Toan Nguyen, and pre-op/post-op nurse, Andrea Berg, goof around during the final party. (Arielle Sasson)

High school student, two Vietnamese plastic surgeons, and I. (Arielle Sasson)

Team members celebrate the end of a long week of surgery. (Arielle Sasson)

Vietnamese non-medical volunteers, American high school students and student sponsor, and I pose for a group photo. (Arielle Sasson)

June 14th, 2012: DAY 4 OF SURGERY

          We are happy to announce the successful completion of the international surgical mission in the province of Nghe An, Vietnam. We were fortunate to have a very excited and skilled team of volunteers from Australia, Canada, Sweden, the United States, and Vietnam. It was amazing to witness how such a diverse group of people were able to work together effectively and transform the lives of so many children despite several cultural and language barriers. As a team, we screened a total of 131 children and provided 83 procedures for 75 patients at the Nghe An 115 General Hospital.

            Many patients touched our hearts with their stories this week, but we have to mention Hau Huu Nguyen, a twelve-year-old boy who was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate.

            I spotted Hau sitting closely next to his mother in the front of the hospital during screening, shyly staring at the hungry babies screaming in their mothers’ laps and the excited children running around him. He wore a soiled white and blue collared shirt, complete with a tiny blue tie and a small badge with his school’s name printed on it. His stubby legs, clad in jeans covered with colorful cartoons of superheroes, dangled over his chair, slowly tracing shapes in the air beneath him. As I started to move closer to Hau, he quickly tucked his lips in, concealing his scarred mouth from view. I tried to speak to him, but Hau shoved his face in the crook of his mother’s arm, avoiding me completely. I decided to talk to Hau’s mother, Ha, to collect the heartbreaking details of her son’s story.

            Hau was always used to hiding his deformed face from others. Although Operation Smile worked on Hau’s cleft lip twice before when he was very young, Hau’s lip still wasn’t fully repaired from the surgeries because the scar on his upper lip is still visible. At school, Hau’s peers tease him, mocking him with hurtful comments because of a deformity that is totally out of his control.

            Hau’s unrepaired cleft palate also poses many difficulties for Hau. As an infant, Hau had much trouble feeding. Ty always needed to grind Hau’s food into a milky liquid in order for Hau to eat it. Hau also has severe speaking problems, a reason why he neglected to respond when I tried to talk to him.

            Ty recently began to lose all hope for her son to finally become normal. As a rice farmer, she is barely able to support her mentally challenged husband and three sons with her measly earnings. Ty knew she would not be able to pay for the surgery Hau needed with her negligible income.

            When someone told her that Operation Smile was coming to Nghe An, Ty felt that her son would finally have the chance to live a normal life. Ty and Hau traveled 70 kilometers from their home in Thanh Chuong to make it to the hospital for screening. As Hau went through the screening process, Ty said, “I am grateful that we have come here. I hope my son will be able to have the surgery he needs to look completely normal.”

            Ty was extremely excited to hear that our team accepted Hau for surgery. When Hau’s surgery was completed, Ty was brought into the recovery room to see her son. When Ty reached Hau’s bed, her face contorted in disbelief, unable to believe what she was seeing. “This is not my son! This is not what he looks like! Where is my son?” Ty exclaimed, looking for Hau in the other patients’ beds. Even though the anesthesiologist tried to assure her that her son was lying in the hospital bed before her, Ty persisted with her confusion, unable to realize that the newly handsome face lying in front of her was Hau’s. Eventually, the anesthesiologist gave up, showing Ty that Hau’s chart was attached to the bed he lay in. Shocked, tears quickly began to run down Ty’s face as she thanked the anesthesiologist over and over again for making her son normal.

Hau waits to enter the screening process. (Diana Amini)

June 13th, 2012: DAY 3 OF SURGERY

          Today was the third day of surgery on our mission! We successfully operated on twenty-five children with cleft lip and palate deformities.

            A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl slowly walked around the pre-op ward this morning, sharing her shy, crooked smile with the patients around her. A multicolored dragonfly was printed on her soft pink outfit, a pink that matched the pureness of her personality. Throughout the day, she was constantly seen attaching herself to various members of our team, holding their hands tightly and communicating her appreciation for their work through her sweet smile. When the team members were busy, the girl would enthusiastically play with the jump rope our high school students brought for her, occupying herself for hours until it was her turn for surgery.

            Hien Thi Nguyen’s relatives were downcast when Hien was born with a severe cleft palate. Her parents felt that Hien was born with the deformity because her maternal grandfather handled Agent Orange, a disabling defoliant, during the Vietnam War, and the poison affected the formation of Hien’s palate.

Although Operation Smile operated on Hien three times before, Hien still had the cleft and her deformity prevented her from speaking and interacting with others normally. After hearing that Operation Smile was coming to Nghe An, Hien’s parents hoped that their daughter would finally receive the surgery she needed to live a normal life. Hien and her mother traveled for three hours by motorcycle from their family’s rice farm to get to the hospital for screening. Fortunately, Hien was accepted for surgery, her last one necessary to fully repair her cleft palate.

            Hien’s mother, Ha Thi, was extremely afraid when Hien was taken in for surgery, anxious to see her daughter’s palate. Ha Thi completely relaxed when she saw that the anesthesiologist tenderly carried Hien out of the operating room, “treating her like a caring mother,” Ha Thi noted.

While she sat on her hospital bed a little bit later, Hien tried to get a good look of her repaired palate in the mirror. As she opened her mouth and tilted her head back to look at the roof of her mouth, she gasped when she noticed the hole in her palate was gone. Shyly smiling, she whispered, “I finally am beautiful.”

Hien and her mother, Ha Thi, share smiles in the child life playroom before surgery. (Arielle Sasson)

Hien shows off a batch of stickers she received from the Swedish volunteers. (Diana Amini)

June 12th, 2012: DAY 2 OF SURGERY

            Today was day two of surgery on our mission in Nghe An! Twenty-one children received cleft lip and palate surgeries.

            As I walked into the child life playroom this morning, two shining brown eyes gazed at me from across the room. I saw that they belonged to Nam Van Nguyen, an eight-month-old boy who lit up with a severed smile every time I played peek-a-boo with him.

            Nam’s asymmetrical smile, defined by a unilateral cleft lip and palate, prompted many outside of his family to stare and ask Nam’s parents what was wrong with him. As a result, Nam’s parents were nervous that Nam would experience seclusion from his peers as an older boy. After hearing that Operation Smile was coming to Nghe An, Nam’s parents, both rice farmers, had traveled two hours to the hospital by bus in hopes of finally providing their son with the chance to avoid this incessant discrimination. Nam’s mother hoped that Operation Smile would finally make her child look normal so that he would be allowed to go to school some day.

            Nam’s parents were thrilled when they found out that Operation Smile could operate on their son’s cleft lip. Although Nam’s mother was very nervous when the anesthesiologist took Nam into surgery, she was really happy with the results. As she held Nam, who proudly showed off his new smile, she stated that she was “looking forward to going home and showing her baby to the rest of the family.”

Nam, an eight-month-old boy, has a unilateral cleft lip and palate. (Arielle Sasson)

Nam smiles after getting surgery to repair his facial deformities. (Diana Amini)

Nam, here with his mother, shows off his new smile. (Diana Amini)

June 11th, 2012: DAY 1 OF SURGERY

           Today was the first day of surgery on our mission! Twenty fortunate children received surgery for their clefts in the hospital.

I found Hoai, a tiny three- year- old girl, talking to a small yellow doll in one of the hospital’s hallways today. When I picked up her chin, she stared at me with her very round, brown eyes. Her bilateral cleft lip and palate prevented her from smiling back at me. Instead, she softly touched my face with her fragile hands, tracing my smile over and over again with her tiny fingers.

In desperation for their daughter to smile, Hoai’s parents visited many different surgeons in the past, but were turned away six times. Haoi was too underweight to receive surgery because her cleft prevented her from eating normally. After hearing that Operation Smile was coming to the Nghe An 115 General Hospital, Haoi’s parents believed that their dream for their daughter to smile would finally be fulfilled. Hoai also has a brother, Luc, who has an unrepaired cleft palate, but her parents thought that Operation Smile would only be able to operate on one of their children. Thus, they decided to bring only Hoai to the hospital because her visible cleft provokes severe ostracization by her community. After learning that Operation Smile could operate on both of their children, the siblings’ parents were filled with hope. Luc’s father immediately arranged for Luc to come to the hospital to enter the screening process with her sister.

Luc’s playful personality shone through the moment he walked into the hospital. He couldn’t stop enthusiastically dancing to the upbeat Disney music the high school students played in the pre-op ward. Four years ago, a Korean organization repaired Luc’s bilateral cleft lip at another hospital in Nghe An. Although his parents tried to get surgery for his cleft palate many times before, they were turned away each time because he, like his sister, was too thin to receive surgery. Because his cleft is unrepaired, it is extremely difficult for Luc to speak and eat normally. Luc’s peers regularly tease him because his unrepaired cleft poses these difficulties for him and makes him look different from everyone else.

The family showed mixed emotions after hearing the screening results. Haoi will be receiving surgery for her bilateral cleft lip and palate! Sadly, however, Luc will not be able to receive surgery for his cleft palate because his deformity is so severe and Operation Smile does not have enough resources to treat him.           

          Although downcast that he was not receiving surgery to repair his cleft, Luc did not any show hostility towards his sister. Luc openly shared in the surprise and joy of receiving a sister with a now beautifully crafted smile. Hopefully we will have enough support to treat Luc on another mission to this site in the future and bring him the same happiness from the sight of his own repaired cleft.

Hoai, a three-year-old with a bilateral cleft lip and palate.  (Diana Amini)

Luc, a ten-year-old with a repaired bilateral cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate.  (Diana Amini)

Luc has a severe cleft palate that we hope Operation Smile can treat in the future. (Toan Nguyen)

June 10th, 2012: SCREENING DAY

          After over three days of traveling, we started our international surgical mission yesterday in northern Vietnam! Our mission is based in Nghe An, a large province famously known as the birth place of communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Yesterday was our first day of screening at the Nghe An 115 General Hospital. As we walked into the hospital, we saw hundreds of people staring at us with faces of anxiety, desperation, and hope. After traveling very long distances and waiting for our team to reach the hospital, these nervous families were very eager for screening to begin so that they could hear whether or not their children would receive surgery. After successfully screening 115 of these children, 65 patients were accepted for surgery. However, more patients will be arriving at the hospital later in the week to be screened.

            Many patients touched our hearts yesterday with their stories. One in particular was one-year-old Sinh Nguyen, an adorable boy we found wrapped in a floral bandana, happily bobbing on his grandmother’s lap outside of the hospital. Sinh has a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate.

Sinh lives with his parents and his five-year-old sister in the village of Nghia Dan. Sinh’s father is a construction worker and his mother is a farmer. Together, they barely make a living to support their family of four.

Operation Smile repaired Sinh’s mother’s unilateral cleft lip in this hospital when she was 6 years old. Before her surgery, she always felt downcast and ostracized because her deformity made her look different from everyone else. Sinh’s mother is able to sympathize with Sinh in a special way because she herself was forced to undergo the pain and hopelessness that results from dealing with a cleft. She said, “I hope my son can get the surgery he needs so he can live a normal life. In the future, I want Sinh to be able to go to school and get a stable job.” She emphasized that she didn’t want Sinh to be forced to experience the life of humiliation and shame she had before her cleft was repaired.

Sinh’s parents were turned away from doctors twice before because Sinh was too young to receive the procedure and his parents were not able to afford the necessary surgery for his facial deformities. When an Operation Smile representative visited their neighborhood and announced that a surgical mission would be held at Nghe An 115 General Hospital, Sinh’s family felt that they needed to try a third time to give Sinh the chance to a normal life.

            Arriving at the hospital full of hope, Sinh’s family waited for their turn. When Sinh and his mother started the screening process, Sinh’s mother adorned her scarred face with her excited smile. Unfortunately, our team discovered that Sinh had a lung infection that made it too risky for him to receive the cleft surgery. After receiving the devastating news, Sinh’s family was told that they should try to come back to be screened again at Operation Smile’s next mission in Nghe An. Shocked, Sinh’s mother went from station to station in screening, begging the doctors to repair her son’s cleft. Our team tried to comfort Sinh’s family and explain that Sinh needed to get better before receiving the surgery. Our doctors also taught Sinh’s mother how to treat the lung infection so that Sinh could receive the surgery during the next Operation Smile mission. We watched with tears in our eyes as Sinh, his grandparents, and his mother squeezed together on the back of the motorcycle as they left for home. In the future, we hope that Operation Smile will have enough funds and resources to provide Sinh with the surgery he needs to be a normal child.

Sinh plays with his grandmother outside of the hospital before entering the screening process. (Diana Amini)

Sinh Nguyen, a one-year-old with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, waits with his grandmother to hear the results from screening (Arielle Sasson)