Nogales, Arizona

Cleft Palate/Cleft Lip Mission

Each October we conduct a Cleft Palate/Cleft Lip Mission. We partner with Children’s Surgery International of Minnesota which provides surgeons, nurses, and other medical staff. Surgeries take place in the CIMA (Centro Internacional de Medicina) Hospital in Hermosillo, Son., Mexico. CIMA volunteers and St. Andrew’s Clinic staff coordinate the myriad of details involved in the Mission.

October 8-13, 2010 was our 5th annual Mission. During this time, approximately 80 children were screened, and 41 were selected for surgery. Of these, 17 had palate, 17 had lip, 1 had lip/palate, and 6 had bone graft surgery.

Below are pre-surgery pictures of most of the patients with their age and type of surgery. Some patients will need additional surgery. All will be followed in our Speech and Language Therapy Department where they will learn to pronounce sounds with their newly shaped mouth and lips. From time to time, we will show before and after photos of some of these patients in our newsletter and mailings to donors. Those with cleft lip have the most pronounced visual changes following surgery.

We invite you to support our next Cleft Palate/Cleft Lip Mission in October, 2011 by sending your contribution to: St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic, P.O. Box 67, Green Valley, AZ 85622. Thank you for your help.

Abigail Vega, 23 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery 1
2 Alan Valenzuela, 7 mos., lip scar revision
America Gamez, 5 yrs., pharyngeal flap 3
4 Ana Rodriguez, 1 yr., unilateral cleft lip, 1st surgery
Angel de Jesús Izaguirre, 5 mos., cleft lip 5
6 Angel Quijada, 4 mos., unilateral cleft lip, 1st surgery
Angel Velazquez, 4 yrs., cleft palate, unilateral cleft lip, 1st surgery 7
8 Angelica Tolano, 10 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery
Cristina Quiñones, 10 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery 9
10 Daniela Vidal, 12 yrs., lip papilloma, g-tube closure
Emma Zazueta, 6 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery 11
12 Emmanuel Velarde, 8 yrs., pharyngeal flap
Francisca del Cid, 5 yrs., palatal fistula 13
14 Jesús Ariel Payan, 14 yrs., pharyngeal flap
Jesús Benitez, 9 yrs., bone graft 15
16 Jesús Tadeo Morales, 2 yrs., cleft palate, fistula closure
Joana Armenta, 6 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery 17
18 Jorge Duarte, 15 yrs., bone graft
José Reyes, 1 yr., cleft palate, 1st surgery 19
20 Joseline Castro, 3 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery
Juan de Jesús Anguamea, 16 yrs., pharyngeal flap 21
22 Juan Padilla, 2 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery
Juana Noney Hermosillo, 23 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery 23
24 Karina Medina, 14 yrs., pharyngeal flap
Liliana Valdez, 3 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery 25
26 Luís Miguel Hernandez, 11 yrs., bone graft
Luís Rafael del Cid, 11 yrs., pharyngeal flap 27
28 María del Carmen Jimenez
María Medina, 2 yrs., cleft palate, 1st surgery 29
30 Mayre Luna, 11 mos., incomplete lip
Miguel Alejandro Coronado, 16 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery 31
32 Paloma Kandl, 6 yrs., pharyngeal flap
Raul Portillo, 13 yrs., bone graft 33
34 Regina Sarrazin, 18 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery
Saul Cañez, 12 yrs., bone graft 35
36 Sebastian Kniffin, 15 mos., cleft palate, 1st surgery
Shelly Acosta, 4 mos., unilateral cleft lip, 1st surgery 37
38 Tiare Cervantes, 2 yrs., cleft palate, 1st