World Care

Sadly, some of the children who come to us for help have much more complicated disfigurements than can be treated during our two-week medical missions. Through the generosity of sponsors, we can arrange to have a child and a guardian brought to Australia, Europe, South Africa or the United States, where the child can receive surgery.

A caring host family provides a home for them during the child’s treatment and recovery, which typically lasts a month. These children’s faces — and lives — are dramatically transformed, as are those of their generous sponsors and host families who make these miracles possible.

Living Proof: Sharon Chebet, World Care Patient

Sharon Chebe was born with a severe facial cleft.

It began on a mission to Kenya

In November 2001, Joe and Sue Kainz of Barrington, Illinois, volunteered to manage the medical records of an Operation Smile mission in Eldoret, Kenya. A few days into the mission, Joe and Sue saw a group of people gathered around a newborn baby.

The infant, Sharon, had been born with a severe facial cleft. Just hours after Sharon was born, her parents traveled six hours by bus to reach the Operation Smile mission in Eldoret.

The severity of Sharon’s condition was too complex to be performed during the in-country mission so Sharon became a candidate for Operation Smile’s World Care program.

After meeting Sharon, the Kainzes were determined to help

A year before they traveled on the mission to Kenya, Joe and Sue were among the winners of a seven-state lottery called The Big Game. “It allowed us to fulfill dreams and establish the Kainz Family Foundation,” Joe says. Through their private foundation, the Kainzes are dedicated to helping children and the environment. After meeting Sharon and her family, Joe and Sue were determined to make sure Sharon received the care she needed.

In November 2003, the Kainzs sponsored Sharon’s trip to Norfolk, Viginia, and her surgery at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Joe and Sue explained they are just part of a large team of Operation Smile doctors and nurses who have helped Sharon. “If you can change one life, you have to do it. We’re committed to this child,” Joe says.

Sue and Joe Kainz, Sharon Chebet and her mother, Emily, before Sharon’s final surgery in May 2005.

A “miracle”

Family and friends in Kenya were amazed at Sharon’s progress, but knew she would need an additional surgery. In May 2005, three-year-old Sharon and her mother Emily returned to Norfolk and Sharon received surgery at CHKD to reconstruct her nose and repair her cleft palate. Joe and Sue flew to Norfolk to be by her side one more time. “She’s a miracle,” Joe said. The surgery went well, and Sharon returned home to Kenya.

The transformation of a face and a future

Sharon’s mother, Emily, is happy and thanks Joe and Sue for all they have done to give Sharon the chance to live a normal life. She says Sharon now has many friends in their village. When Sharon and Emily traveled to the U.S., they stayed with Joy and Bob Sandlin from Virginia Beach. “Last time they were here, Sharon was clingy to her mother,” Joy marveled. “Now she is more outgoing and independent. It’s a dramatic change.”

Sharon and her mother, Emily, in May 2005, three weeks after her surgery.