In September 2016, a volunteer Interplast team visiting Samoa repaired six-year-old Daniel’s bilateral cleft palate.
It was a great outcome for the young boy, opening up a brighter future that will include less chance of social exclusion, better speech development, ease of eating and drinking, and more.
But his story illustrates the challenges of treating conditions that in countries such as Australia and New Zealand are dealt with quite early in a child’s life.
Daniel was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, which requires a number of stages of surgery. He was first seen by an Interplast team in September 2013 at the age of three, and was scheduled for an initial operation, but he then developed a bad chest infection and his surgery was cancelled.
The following year Interplast volunteer surgeon Dr Damian Marucci operated on Daniel, repairing the cleft lip and anterior palate.
In 2015 Daniel and his family arrived at the hospital too late to be included on the Interplast team’s operating schedule, and although Dr Marucci was able to check his progress, he had to wait for yet another year.
Thankfully, Dr Marucci was able to complete the majority of the required surgery in September 2016, finalising Daniel’s bilateral palate reconstruction. Dr Marucci said the operation went very well, and on the next visit he will check to ensure that Daniel is eating and drinking properly and that no fistulas have formed.
