Linh

Quang Ngai, Vietnam-Liliana Vazquez, Interplast Communications Technology Coordinator.

Linh is four years old and very studious. She came to the hospital to be evaluated with her backpack on and ready to head to school as soon as our team scheduled her surgery.  Linh was born with ptosis, a congenital birth defect which causes the eyelids to sag and could interfere with vision development.  A day before surgery patients are told not to have any food or water until after their procedures.  When Linh awoke after her surgery she was very hungry, so our coordinator/translator Theo (pictured with Linh) gave her some bread from the team’s break room.  Linh loved the bread.  When she returned two days later to have her eye checked and bandaged removed, the only way Theo could talk her into letting the surgeons examine her eye was by bribing her with more bread.  Once she was cleared by the doctors, Linh took her bread, threw on her backpack,waved goodbye and left with her father straight to school.  It was rewarding to witness that with one simple surgery Interplast played a critical role in making sure Linh’s studies are never affected because of the condition she was born with.