So No Child Must Wait

Acid Burn Victim to Receive Surgery

Acid Burn Victim to Receive Surgery
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

Mai is a 34 year old mother of two who was severely burned four years ago by an acid attack. She previously received skin grafts to her neck and chest, but her skin still formed contractures, which prevent her from fully closing her mouth or be able to completely turn her head.

Four years ago, Mai was as happy as she could be. She met the love of her life and was getting married to him. When she shared the news with her best friend, instead of being happy for her, the best friend was enraged. Unbeknownst to Mai, her best friend had developed affectionate feelings for her and was angry at Mai for choosing to marry a man. The anger did not stop there. Several months later, after Mai had gotten married and was three months pregnant, her friend showed up at her doorstep and threw acid at Mai, severely burning her neck, arms, hands, chest, and stomach. Mai was in the hospital for over a month. Because her healing process was extremely difficult, and it was hard for her to eat, her baby was born malnourished. Fortunately, Mai has a loving husband who stayed by her side, and Mai now has two children. Unfortunately, her assailant was never caught, and Mai lives in fear that she will one day return to hurt her again.

Mai traveled many hours to be able to receive surgery from Interplast to release her burn contractures. Although Mai will always be scarred, both physically and emotionally, she hopes that this surgery will provide her with the mobility she needs to be able to work, go out in public, and take care of her children.
Mai’s surgery took over three hours and involved an extensive skin graft from her abdomen. For the first time in years, Mai was given a chin and the ability to close her mouth fully and move her neck. Mai was recently released from the hospital in Quang Ngai, and is recovering well.

Helping Thi

Helping Thi
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

Thi, now 15, goes to school and helps her family with farming as much as she can.  Her arm and neck movements are limited by the skin contractures on her neck and arm.  Sometimes more painful than her limited movement is the teasing she receives from her classmates, who tell her that her stretched skin on her neck looks like the skin of a frog. 

Thi's family simply does not have enough money to pay for surgery to release her contractures and give her back her mobility.  Today, Interplast operated on a very nervous but happy Thi, releasing her neck contracture through a z-plasty surgical procedure, and provided her a skin graft on her left arm to allow her greater mobility.  Although Thi's healing process still has a long way to go, she is now on her way to receiving the mobility that she was deprived of for so long, and so very much desires.  The surgery lasted over an hour and a half and was successful.  Her 16-year-old brother was by her side in the recovery room.

Thi's Story

Thi's Story
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

Another patient that was operated on today was 15-year-old Thi.  Thi has burn scars on her neck, chest, arms and hands, and suffers from contractures on her neck and upper left arm.  Thi does not remember the accident that caused her injuries, but her mother, who was waiting with her by her side (see picture), told us the story.  She said that when Thi was four years old, and her brother was five, the parents had to leave them at home in order to go work in the farms.  Thi comes from a very poor farming family about 50 km from Quang Ngai.  Thi's brother was cooking a meal for the both of them over an open fire when Thi stumbled and fell into the fire.  Her brother, being only 5 years old himself, did not know what to do but cry.  Luckily, the neighbors heard him and took Thi to the hospital in Quang Ngai, where she stayed for a month.  Because her burns were not quickly or effectively treated, her skin formed painful lesions.  The only other treatment Thi received after that point was Chinese herbal medicine.

A Smiling Face From The Past

A Smiling Face From The Past
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

The day started off bright and early.  We arrived at the hospital at 8 a.m. and found the patients already there, anxiously waiting.  After getting situated and taking care of some last minute setup details, the first surgery began around 10 a.m.  Eight surgeries in all were performed on Day 1, consisting of mostly palates and a few burn contracture releases. 

Among the patients today was 3-year-old Quan.  Quan received a cleft lip repair last year from the Interplast volunteers in Quang Ngai.  This year, he has returned to fix his palate.  Quan is a happy and playful 3-year-old who loves getting his picture taken.  His farming family traveled two hours on motor bike with him so he could receive this surgery that will make it easier for him to develop proper speech.  His mother is pregnant, so Quan will be a big brother soon!

Quan and his parents were featured in Interplast's Vietnam photo brochure last year, which included photos from photographer John Urban.  In this picture here, Quan plays with the brochure that shows his photo from last year.  Even before his palate surgery, one can see the dramatic difference that Interplast has made to this child's life over the past year.

Clinic Day

Clinic Day
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

At clinic the next morning, all still in our traveling clothes from the past two days, we entered the hospital with excitement, ready to meet the many patients whose journeys were likely harder than ours.  With anxiety clear in their expressions, the parents and the children waited patiently in the heat and chaos with the desperate hope of being chosen for surgery.  Without a Polaroid camera, paperwork, pens, files, or anything else that would normally be used on clinic day, the volunteers successfully completed around 120 examinations with the help of their wits, creativity, fellow team members, and the kindness of the staff at the Da Khoa Quang Ngai hospital. 

Eighty-five patients were scheduled for surgeries over the next two weeks…a few return patients from last year and an extraordinary number of palate surgeries were among the scheduled. 

Once the luggage, boxes, and our courageous translators made it to Quang Ngai later that afternoon, the team began setting up the operating and recovery rooms at 6 p.m (a task that would normally occur simultaneously with the examinations).   By around 9 p.m., the dedication of all the volunteers, especially the head nurse, Beverly Zuber, was evident by the fact that in three short hours, everything was unpacked and ready for our first day of surgery the next morning.

Journey to Quang Ngai

Journey to Quang Ngai
Originally uploaded by interplast

Quang Ngai, Vietnam—Michael Demian, Interplast associate director of foundation and corporate relations.

The team finally arrived at our little hotel in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, on Sunday, January 4th at 8 p.m., after more than 30 hours of traveling (more for those coming from the east coast!).  Our first flight had to make an unexpected stop in Taipei to refuel, which got us into Hong Kong at the exact time we were supposed to depart on our next flight to Ho Chi Minh City.  Luckily, the airline in Hong Kong held our flight for us…unluckily, none of our bags, or the boxes, made it. 

Even before the surgeries began, the professionalism and efficiency of the Quang Ngai team under the leadership of Dr. Mark Singleton quickly surfaced at the Ho Chi Minh City airport, where the two translators – Kim Satterlee and Thuyle Dinh - volunteered to stay the night to battle it out with the airlines and to ensure that the rest of the team would receive their luggage and medical supplies by the next day.  In the meantime, the remaining volunteers traveled on another flight to Danang, then took a three-hour bumpy bus ride to the city of Quang Ngai.