Every year, over
200,000 children are born without
the ability to smile, and even worse,
breathe properly. 99% of people
are born like this, with a full ability to breathe
through their nasal airway passage. However, the
other 1% look like this, with a cleft lip or palate which makes
life terribly difficult for these children
as they grow up. In poorer areas, there is no
way for many of these people to get healthcare,
meaning thousands of them grow up without ever having the
opportunity to receive surgery, which results in bullying
and social isolation. But, there is
one organization that is making a big difference in
communities all around the world. Meet Kathy. 40 years ago,
my husband and I were asked to
go to the Philippines. We landed in
sites one after the next, and we saw 300 children
with cleft lip and palates. We just didn't
know what to do We said, let's do
what we can, and we
were able to do 40. The rest,
we had to turn away So, we said
to ourselves, okay, well, we
should go back. We should
at least finish. This was the
start of Operation Smile and in
40 years, they've been able to
achieve over 400,000 successful surgeries
for patients in 36 countries all around the world. However, in Mexico,
the number of cleft cases are
quickly increasing and becoming difficult
to maintain alone. They desperately
need our help. So, Darren
and Dan flew to Puebla, Mexico,
a city with rich Latin history and culture. On their arrival, Dan got the rare
opportunity to showcase this incredible city from above
by being invited to ring the cathedral
bell at first light. They were
welcomed by Mauricio. I started with
Operation Smile 11 years ago. One of the reasons why I wanted to
dedicate my life into nonprofits is because in Mexico, there's a huge gap
between people that can actually have
access to any surgery. I met a
young lady, and when she came to one of our
surgical programs, she had a bruised eye. They threw
stones at her because of the way she spoke. It just broke my heart. This is one of
the consequences of a cleft I always say
that behind the patient, there's a story, and behind the story,
you have a human. And I decided
to dedicate my life to the cleft
cause in Mexico We met a young child,
and he is one of the sweetest kids I've ever
met in my entire life But he has a terrible
disfigurement on his face. And this
child is so sweet and so loving, but it breaks my heart knowing
the bullying that he is going to face as
he grows up. One of these
patients is Emmanuel. 17 months ago, he was born
with a bilateral cleft palate. He is the
son of Jerónimo, a single father
who lives in the rural
mountains of Chiapas. The cost
of health care has proven to be
extremely expensive for him, as he barely makes enough
money to support his son. Meaning that his only hope
is to travel by bus for 17 hours to Puebla for the only chance of being
selected for a surgery. And if not selected, it may be
the last chance Jerónimo has to get this
opportunity for his son. If you look out at any one of these programs,
what we see are masses. It's not like
10 children, 2 children. It's masses of
kids and families. We screen
these families. You know,
we look in their face. But if you
look down, you see no
shoes on their feet. They will do
anything for their child. I can only
imagine the pain for a parent
when they have a child that desperately needs a
surgery and they cannot afford to provide it for
them themselves. And when
we saw just how difficult this was for these families, we knew
we had to help. So we decided
to pay for over 100 surgeries. The next day after the screening
process was complete, it was time for the patient selection. Jerónimo was extremely
anxious because he wasn't sure if his
son would be selected Today is a very
emotional day for me. Behind me, we
have the patients and we're going to do
the surgical announcement. They are about just to be told that they're
going to be having a life change forever. 97 patients had
already been selected and Jerónimo
started to lose hope. It was time
for patient number 99. He did it. Just look at
the relief on his face. Seeing the hope in these parents'
faces when they bring these children to this clinic,
knowing that they're finally going
to get the medical care that they need is truly an
experience that moves the heart. Emmanuel's surgery
would take the whole day So while the
doctors operated, Dan and Darren
went to explore the city. We were walking
through the park and we just
found a Mariachi band. And it's always
been a dream of Darren's to join a Mariachi band. So hopefully I can make his
dream come true. Sorry! My friend over there, he wants to join the band. Okay. I got you a hat. I think we have
to shut this down. This is terrible. That was one of the
greatest experiences of my life. That shows you how
boring Darren's life is. Emmanuel's surgery
is now complete. And this
will be the first time Jerónimo will
ever see his son smile. One of my
favorite moments in the surgical
program is when the kid comes out of surgery. Because this
is the first time that the parents are going to
see the kids with the surgery. It's just such
an emotional moment. Because you change the life,
not only of the patient, but the family and the society. Our patients
are going to have the opportunity to
actually have a normal life. A healed cleft
means that all of these children
will grow up not having to worry
about being bullied. And on top
of these extraordinary surgeries Operation Smile also provides
all of their patients with free speech and vocal therapy. Meaning that they will learn
how to speak clearly and fluently. But we had one
more surprise left. Kathy told us about a young nursing
student, Fernanda, who was treated by Operation Smile
17 years ago. I knew I wanted
to study nursing because I wanted
to help kids like me. When you go home You tell your family, that they
don’t have to pay for you anymore. We’re gonna give
you a full scholarship And we’ll pay for you
to finish your nursing school I think you’re going
to be an excellent nurse. - Thank you.
- Thank you vey much. Dan, come over here. Alright, look
at this man. If you don't subscribe, he will literally cry right now. Don't worry, they subscribed,
so you don't have to. Yeah. Just end it like that. And one more thing. Operation Smile
is amazing and they're doing incredible
work all around the world. We want to
help them continue to be able
to provide these surgeries to children
all around the world. In other words, if you don't
donate to Operation Smile, you just hate kids.
