This past January, Alé van Scoyoc, a junior at Langley High School in McLean Virginia, her father and a Spanish teacher, joined a PfS surgical team in Guatemala. Prior to departing, they had collected blankets, washcloths, and toiletries from the local church, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, and the high school Spanish club to donate to patients scheduled for surgery.
Alé‘s first day was spent in scrubs. As she stood next to the anesthesiologist, each step of the surgery was carefully explained. The patient was a nine-month-old baby named Anthony who, suffering from a cleft lip and palate, was scheduled to have his lip repaired. Anthony’s surgeon was part of a Canadian volunteer group that has been performing medical missions in Guatemala for years. It only took 30 minutes for the surgeon to repair Anthony’s cleft lip but the impact will be for a lifetime. When Alé was able to visit him post-surgery, she found Anthony awake and moving around.
“Anthony’s life had changed in that moment and so had mine,” she reflected. “I experienced many moments that changed me forever. Seeing the patients in person gave me a completely different perspective.”
In her future, Alé hopes to enter into the medical field, specifically to be a nurse, so she can impact the lives of others, as she saw first-hand in Guatemala.
Anthony’s surgery would not have been possible without the medical volunteers and your donations. Every single dollar you donate has an immediate yet resounding effect. Partner for Surgery relies on your donations to change the lives of many rural Guatemalans who would otherwise face very limited futures. Your continued contributions are gratefully acknowledged.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Consider making a tax-deductible donation.
Every dollar donated has a direct impact.
This is what your gift to Partner for Surgery can do:
$25 will provide one breast pump and nursing bottle to a new mother
$35 will supply one month of life saving nutrition to a cleft infant
$50 will provide 10 midwives with training on how to care for cleft infants
$100 will screen 10 women for cervical cancer
$200 will cover the cost of surgery to repair a cleft lip or palate
$250 will cover the cost of surgery to repair a hernia
$350 will supply all necessary nutrition to a cleft infant prior to surgery
$750 will nourish a cleft infant for 10 months and cover the cost of 2 surgeries to repair defects
$2,500 will provide logistic support for one rural medical mission
