Little Molahloe Kobbe (21 months) was born with a double cleft lip. He was operated during this Smile Week.
Life-changing operations are taking place as part of the biannual Smile Week at the Universitas Academic Hospital this week.
One of the children is Ryan Tshuma (7) from Kathu, who sustained serious burn injuries in an accident with a paraffin stove on 15 February last year.
In excruciating pain, the boy was taken to a nearby hospital that afternoon, where dressings were applied. Ten days later, the burn wounds turned septic. Not having the financial means to pay for a doctor’s consultation, the boy’s father, Raymond Simbada, applied store-bought dressing to his son’s wounds. The family was later referred to the plastic surgery clinic at Universitas.
Raymond says that it was only when they met Dr Nikita Blake, a surgeon at Universitas, that they experienced a glimmer of hope for their son. Blake is part of the team that does the surgeries and provides aftercare for children during Smile Week.
Ryan is one of two burn victims who will be operated on this week.
Dr Corné Nel, department head of surgery at Universitas, explains that keloid scars developed around Ryan’s ear and face.
“This means the scar tissue kept growing.”
They plan to do a contracture release surgery.
“We would like to reconstruct his ear by removing the scar tissue. If the cartilage is intact, we will use a very thin layer of fascia skin in his skull to pull over his ear.”
Ryan Tsuma (7) with scar tissue that developed after he burned.
Nel predicts that this operation, which is scheduled for today (08/09), will take about four to six hours.
“This is a very difficult operation and we do not know what the outcome will be. We really hope that the operation will improve Ryan’s quality of life,” he said on Tuesday (06/09).
During this week, since Monday, 21 children have had and will receive surgeries that range from cleft lip repair to the rebuilding of cleft palets.
Molahloe Kobbe (21 months) is booked for bilateral cleft lip repair surgery.
Nel says they prefer to repair the cleft lips of children between three and six months and they would have preferred to see Molahloe sooner.
Kim Robertson Smith, chief executive officer of Smile, said all the operations were funded by a generous donor who whishes to remain anonymous.
Dr Nikita Blake with Omolemo Leeuw (1 year 6 months) from Clocolan.
