Special Cases 2026

Hello from Vietnam. Since my last post we have been very busy traveling as we continue to train local staff in the provinces to identify and refer children in their communities for surgery. Our training and new screening model has been very effective. Thanks to the help of the local staff in the communities we will help a record number of children this year. The real magic happens next week as we kick off our 2026 surgery campaign. First stop Yen Bai province 250 children scheduled, then Lao Cai -300 children scheduled....every week for the next few months we will travel to a different remote province to provide life changing surgeries. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks. Special Cases: On occasion as we travel the countryside we come across patients that may not fall into our normal patient profile but are poor and in need of medical assistance. With some of these circumstances our Director will ask if Team USA would be willing to help. Last month I was asked if we could help the grandmother of one of our patients. The grandmother has suffered from Neurofibromatosis her entire life. Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder that causes typically benign tumors to grow along nerve tissues throughout the body. Since she was 9 years old she has been unable to see from her right eye because of the large tumor covering her eye. As a poor farming family her family was unable to get her medical attention. Dr. Hoang Chief of Plastic Surgery at St. Paul Hospital in Hanoi agreed to perform the surgery to remove the growth over her eye and a few larger tumors that developed on her back. With the help of Dr. Hoang and Team USA the patient will now be able to see with both eyes.for the first time since she was just a child. Photos: Before, the day after and Dr. Hoang and his team from St. Paul Hospital below. Dr. Hoang said that it will take approx 4 weeks for the swelling to go down and she will have normal function of her sight again.