True happiness arrives from what we give, not what we get. And with the joy that follows every Smile Week, this life-changing initiative is testament to this. The recent Smile Week took place at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital from 12 to 16 September and was sponsored by Vodacom Foundation – the corporate social investment (CSI) arm of Vodacom that leverages Vodacom’s enormous technological capabilities to improve lives and empower communities.
“We are incredibly grateful to Vodacom Foundation, for their generous donation, as well as the dedicated team of surgeons, medical professionals and hospital staff, who went above and beyond, to give all the children the surgery and care they so desperately needed,” acknowledged Kim Robertson Smith - Chief Executive Officer of Smile Foundation.
Of the 25 children who has undergone life-changing surgery, is Lunge, who was born with a congenital deformity, which is a change in the normal size or shape of a body part caused by a condition that a baby is born with. Little Lunge was born without external ears and ear canals. This is an extremely rare condition, which is all the more challenging for a child if it occurs on both sides, as in Lunge’s case. Over and above the emotional pain that comes with having a vastly different physical appearance to other children, a child with a hearing impairment faces many difficulties that include problems with their speech, communication skills, learning, social development and the ability to cope in everyday situations.
Dr Chris van der Walt, Head of Plastic Surgery at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital, sheds some light on what the recent surgery involved: “Lunge’s condition is very rare. It is only the second of its kind that I have encountered throughout my 12 years of practice.
During her first surgery, we have created an ear with her own tissue, which we took from her ribs on both sides. We have carved the framework of the ear out of cartilage and plant it underneath the skin where the ears would normally have been situated. Both ears have been implanted, now they do not only make a dramatic difference to her appearance, they also enable her to wear bone-conducting hearing aids at a later stage. The surgery took up to seven hours to perform and is a highly complicated and specialized procedure. There are probably only three to four surgeons in South Africa with the skills to perform such a procedure, which is why we were looking forward to helping Lunge, hoping to play a part in changing her life for the better by assisting with hearing aids and anything else she would need going forward.”
More about Smile Week:
Smile Week is a full working week, coordinated by Smile Foundation , during which surgeons, their support teams and assisting medical professionals dedicate a full 5 day working week of their time, their talent and skills, to perform reconstructive surgery on disadvantaged
children in need of surgery for treatable facial anomalies such as cleft lip, cleft palate, nose and ear conditions, facial paralysis, burn wounds and craniofacial abnormalities.
Smile Week is also about empowering South Africa’s medical professionals with the skills needed to support more children having to endure the hardships of living with anomalies. Dr Pandey and Dr Gardener attended the recent Smile Week, to engage in skills development for cleft lip and palate repair, which they took back with them to East London’s Frere Hospital.
“At Smile Foundation we believe that when we all work together, joy becomes possible. With the kindness and generosity of every one of our donors, we are able to offer children the chance to move forward in life, free from the emotional pain of being ridiculed and hurt by
others who are often unaware of how even the slightest disability affects a child,” concludes Kim Robertson Smith - Chief Executive Officer of Smile Foundation.