The ReSurge team fell in love with 3-month-old Thi Ngol Quyen during a trip to Vietnam in April 2013. Thi and her two siblings were in need of surgery and their mother brought them to our clinic in Quy Nhon. The family heard about ReSurge when a local volunteer traveled to their small mountain village to recruit patients. In total, seven children came to us from that village and were evaluated by ReSurge as candidates for surgery. All of the families traveled a full day to arrive to Quy Nhon.
According to Thi’s mother, there are only a few kids in her village with cleft lips and palates. They often get made fun of in school and, in fact, her eldest child has stopped going to school, because he was being teased because his sibling had a cleft.
Thi’s mother never knew that surgery was an option for her children. She thought they would look different forever. When she got the news that ReSurge was able to help her children, she broke down in tears of joy.
Thi and her siblings are just a few of the children we have helped in the two decades we have traveled to Vietnam to provide free surgeries.
