Support Facial Surgery for 50 Ethiopian Children

Every year we aim to treat around 50 complex cases of facial disfigurement in Ethiopia. Throughout the year, our outreach team pro-actively engages with rural communities to find individuals with severe facial deformities. Our patients come from far and wide across Ethiopia in often difficult to reach areas.

The conditions we saw this year ranged from tongue-tie, Noma to huge Ameloblastomas. Thanks to your help we have treated over 40 patients with complex facial disfigurements in Ethiopia this year. 

The Pre-op Stage 

Around 60 potential patients arrived in February to our pre-op assessment centre in Addis Ababa. During this stage of the mission our patients received initial assessments from a team of doctors, nurses and nutritionists to assess suitability for surgery. Full medical histories, various tests, scans and oral hygiene were undertaken. 

Quite often our patients come to us malnourished and this year was no different. One of the main aims of the 2018 complex mission was to improve the nutritional aspect of the mission to help build up the patient’s strength for surgery. We had help from two UK registered Dietitians who carefully monitored our patients diet and provided high calorie drinks to build up their strength. One patient gained 7Kg in just 10 days, a huge success for our team. 

The Operative Stage

After an initial two weeks of assessments the main team arrived in Addis Ababa and an intense two-week operative stage took place. A team of surgeons, doctors, nurses and anaesthetists from the Ethiopia, France, Hong Kong, USA and the UK operated on 4 patients a day. In total we were able to operate on over 40 patients and refer on a further 10 for further investigations. The surgeries were all a huge success with some amazing results.

The Post-op Stage

Post-surgery, patients returned to Cheshire where they received continued support from nurses and doctors before they are discharged. This stage of our mission is still ongoing. The care at Cheshire is to ensure patients stay infection free and recover properly from their surgery before returning home. But it’s also an opportunity for our patients to relax and play. 

The change in the patients post-surgery was remarkable and they continue to improve every day.

Stay tuned for updates on our patients!

All the best,

The Project Harar Team 

Links:

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It's less than a month to go before we start treating 50 patients with facial disfigurements in Ethiopia. Their conditions will range from Noma to huge ameloblastomas. We wanted to share the story of Elili, from our 2016 Complex Mission to show the difference your donation will make...

Elili's Story

Elili came to Project Harar in 2015 with a very large problem: a huge tumour in her jaw, an ameloblastoma. Though ameloblastomas are benign, they can become very swollen and painful. Elili’s tumour was so large that surgeons in 2015 did not know how to deal with it. Sadly, they had to tell Elili to return home until they found a way it could be operated on.

Luckily, by 2016 Project Harar’s surgeons knew how best to deal with Elili’s tumour and asked her to return to the complex surgical mission to have it treated. It was not a moment too soon. Elili’s tumour had grown huge in the last year, and was now so swollen that Elili had only a tiny space in her mouth through which to push her food when she ate. She was in a lot of pain. It was clear that the operation had to be now.

Elili is a brave girl. Despite her physical appearance she had persevered with her schooling, and was supported by her eight siblings. She knew she had to have the operation to regain her quality of life, and said, ‘I really want to get back to school – I love learning so much, and I miss it’.

The operation was a tough one. The tumour had to be removed from both her left and right jawbones, a procedure which took several hours and completely changed the structure of her face. Her mother waited anxiously for her to come out of surgery. When she finally did, her face broke out in a huge grin. The operation had been a success, and the huge tumour was gone.

Elili’s life was transformed. She could now open and close her jaw properly, no longer had to take food through a tiny hole in her mouth, and no longer had problems with breathing. But her happiest thought? ‘I can’t wait to go home and start at school again. My friends will be amazed that my face has changed so much!’

This year we will be treating more children with ameloblastoma's and helping them lead happier, healthier lives.