UMC published the following story written by Annie Oeth.
Born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and a cleft on the left side of his face, Both “Scotty” Virak was abandoned as a newborn in the crowded city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“The authorities contacted me and said they had this abandoned baby, but our organization wasn’t ready to take a baby yet,” said Alli Mellon. “We were planning to open a children’s home but not until spring. I couldn’t turn him away. I knew he was meant to be mine.”
A Clinton native, Mellon is founder and executive director of The Hard Places Community, a nonprofit that helps children in Cambodia, Greece, Madagascar and India escape trauma, human trafficking and sexual abuse. She lives in Cambodia.
Surgery to repair those clefts brings the two nearly 15,000 miles to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and its pediatric arm, Children’s of Mississippi. Dr. Ian Hoppe, who heads pediatric craniofacial plastic surgery at UMMC, has performed two repairs on Scotty, who was adopted by Mellon.
“He is a beautiful surprise who brings joy and love to our family every day,” said Mellon, who has also adopted two 10-year-old girls, a 6-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl.
Scotty’s recovering nicely from palate surgery Dec. 9 that is allowing him to have an easier time eating, said Hoppe, “I performed a repair to his lip deformity earlier this year,” Hoppe said. “We normally proceed with closure of the palate around a year of age, and in that surgery, we addressed his nose. He may need a larger reconstruction for that abnormality later in life, but he’s doing very well now.”
Children’s of Mississippi, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital, has the state’s only Pediatric Craniofacial Center certified by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.
ACPA certification requires a multidisciplinary team including a surgeon trained in transcranial cranio-maxillofacial surgery, a neurosurgeon, a psychologist for neurodevelopmental and cognitive assessment, an ophthalmologist, a social worker, a geneticist, a speech therapist, a dentist and an orthodontist.
“The depth and breadth of knowledge required for ACPA certification are wide, and their standards are high,” Hoppe said. “Having the resources of an academic medical center means we can offer the complete spectrum of care needed by patients born with cleft lip and palates and complex facial clefts.”
Children born with cleft lips, palates and facial clefts may have issues with breathing and feeding, and later, with speech. Patients with rare clefts that involve the eye also need ophthalmology care.
About one in every 1,600 babies is born with a cleft lip and palate, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Complex facial clefts are very rare and their prevalence is not well understood.
Visiting Hoppe for follow-up care in December, a nearly 1-year-old Scotty was wearing sneakers, khakis and a thick cardigan.
“He’s not used to being bundled up,” Mellon said. “Temperatures in Cambodia are usually in the 90s.”
To get to this latest visit, Mellon and Scotty flew from Phnom Penh to China, then to Los Angeles, where they had a 12-hour layover, and then to Nashville for a visit with her sister, Lisa. The trip usually includes about 30 hours of flying time.
“We watch movies to keep from going stir crazy,” she said of the lengthy flights.
About seven months post-surgery, little evidence of Scotty’s cleft lip remains. Since his most recent surgery, eating is easier, and Scotty is a happy, active toddler.
His first surgery, on May 6, was as a 5-month-old. “He got his stitches out May 13, and he’s done really well,” Mellon said. “He doesn’t always like to have his face touched, but he gets facial massages four times a day to help in healing.”
Mellon’s mother, Barbara Mellon, loves having her daughter and Scotty in Clinton when follow-up visits at Children’s of Mississippi are needed.
“We just love him,” she said, “and we love taking care of him. He is so sweet.”
Friday, December 20, 2019
Cambodian Child Comes to UMMC for Surgery
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20 comments:
Great story !
Only a rootless liberal white female with a messiah complex travels to underdeveloped countries believing they have all the answers for the indigenous people. How about all of the impoverished and suffering children on the streets of Jackson?
God bless the lady for her good work.
Can we expect more to come. More of the 'Give me your tired and hungry' bullshit. At what cost to the American taxpayer. This is just the beginning. Wait...the beginning was providing medical treatment to millions of illegals who crossed out southern border.
"Have you no heart" in 3..2..1
Wow !
The trolls are out in force.
Could it be because no one is even looking at their "progressive" sites.?
God bless Hard Places Community.
I will never understand why we don’t take care of our own first. Plenty of kids here that need her help.
“He’s not used to being bundled up,” Mellon said. “Temperatures in Cambodia are usually in the 90s.” And what about the children in Jackson? The real story here is who's making money, hoping for positive press, or taking a tax deduction for caring for a non-U.S. citizen?
UMMC and their new funding scheme. UMMC has been hemorrhaging money since they spit in Blue Cross's face, so they're resorting to gimmicks that don't even serve their home communities. That's the Oxford profiteers for ya!
My nephew was born with a severe cleft palate. My brother and sister in law adopted him, and after several surgeries he is now playing the trombone, and excelling in school, particularly in math.
I suspect he will contribute more to the world in his life, than these nasty trolls have ever done.
Plenty of hairlip and cleft pallet suffers in the metro. But they gotta pay or use their Medicaid, right?
Cambodians chose to ally themselves with Satan decades ago when the Khmer Rouge came to power. Mountains of skulls were created bordering the Killing Fields. Let them reap the rewards of Communism.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many mean snarky remarks to a posy as this one. This person is doing what she feels is her contribution to help children who need medical help. What have most of you done for anyone needing medical help in Jackson, Mississippi or anywhere. Please list your contributions to society or keep your opinions to yourself.
Will all you liberal whiners be serving food and washing pots and pans at soup kitchens next Wednesday? Or will you be sitting around the home fires in Fondren and Belhaven, sipping Chardonnay and Cognac, feasting on shrimp and crumpets? My guess is the latter.
3 47. Nope I’m not liberal but I wii be with my family during Christmas. But I do help in a food distribution network monthly. I’m sure you will be whining about live not being fair. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
6:08...It is I to whom you have responded. Life is indeed fair and is what you make of it. It's you eggheads who do feel-good shit and think you're contributing to the cause of world peace and saving the children who waste my time as well as your own and then you brag about having done it. I'll be with my family as well, God willing. And thanks for telling us about your fell-good participation in a food network. Now, go on to church in the morning and tell us you've done that too.
Appeals to emotion. A leftist tactic that is most effective on the female mind. Like using a disabled child to promote taxing air and consuming insect protein. You can reason with logic but not with hysterical emotion.
It takes a special kind of mental illness to neglect the needy of your own people and spend your tribes resources the the needy of another tribe.
Yet another reminder that the 19th Ammendment was a mistake.
The "save the world" folks want to take people OUT of their homes to exploit that THEY did some good. Plenty of poor and disadvantage here in America that could be assisted, but the Oxford plantation needs PR opportunities trying to stop the $$$$ bleeding from UMMC.
The notion that a man's family should be his foremost concern is expressed in 1 Timothy 5:8, King James Bible, 1611: "But if any provide not for his owne, & specially for those of his own house, hee hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel". (i.e. Oxford, who only care about their own interests)
5:42...I like your post, but, please define the tribes of which you speak.
Where does it say in the press release that UMC is paying for the surgery? So a group helps a child who lives in a country that has poor medical care, brings the child to UMC for treatment, and you guys bitch?
Wow. No wonder Mississippi is always last.
No KF, Mississippi is last because of indulging ungrateful low IQ freeloaders known to publicly flip the fuck out when they don't get their way.
Aha...So now we see (@10:00) that it's The Kingfish who incessantly posts that 'Mississippi is always last'.
PS: Discussing the reality of a situation and its associated psychological meaning is not necessarily 'bitching'.
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