 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
22 mission trips and over 1000 patients |
| Welcome to Surgical Volunteers International |
|
|
|
|
Surgical Volunteers International was formed in 2007. Since that time we have done 22 missions treating over 1000 children with clefts, burns and urological problems. We have offered surgical procedures and treatments in places like Egypt, Vietnam, Guatemala, and Colombia.
Our teams work worldwide, from Guatemala to Vietnam, from Morocco to India.
We also empower the local doctors by offering free training and education during our stay. The local doctors both observe and work hand in hand with our team. Making their doctors self-sufficient insures that whatever work we do continues after we are gone. |
|
|
|
|
|
| No child should ever be forced to choose between mutilation of their ears and severance of their finger. But on Jan 24th, 2007, Michael Soto, an outgoing, 14 year old boy from Guatemala City, Guatemala, was kidnapped and given the choice of whether his ears or fingers would demonstrate the seriousness of US$3million ransom requested by the kidnappers. Immediately his life and the lives of his family members were transformed. Only after tough negotiations and mutilation of both ears did the kidnappers agree to reduce the ransom to US$60,000 and release Michael. Traumatized by the events and without his earlobes, Michael retreated to his room, shunned his usual activities, and avoided school for fear of being mocked by his classmates. To cope, he grew his hair long and covered the sides of his head to hide the scars and missing ear lobes |
| Four months after the kidnapping, Michael’s story was brought to the attention of Dr. Larry Hollier, a plastic surgeon from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and Director of Surgeon Volunteer International, while on a cleft-lip and palate mission trip to Guatemala. Using the financial resources available to the organization, Dr. Hollier arranged for Michael to travel to the United States and have his ears reconstructed using prosthetic material. This required a two staged approach. In the first phase, a team of surgeons, consisting of Dr. Hollier and Dr. Joseph Edmonds, an ear-nose-throat surgeon from Houston, surgically implanted magnetic pins into Michael’s skull. After healing, Michael was again flown back to the United States and prosthetic ears were molded in the form of his father’s by Allison Vest, an Anaplastologist of Medical Art Prosthetics in Dallas. Michael was then able to return to Guatemala with no further procedures required. This effort in its entirety was fully funded by Surgical Volunteers International and Dr. Hollier at no cost to Michael and his family. |
| While the traumatic events will never be forgotten, a new chapter has begun in the Sotos’ lives and in it Michael is now happy, active and doing well in school. Today he no longer wears his hair long and instead fashionably styles it in a way that exposes his new ears. |
|
This site Designed and Maintained by SKEiN |
|
|
 |