Children from Mexico to get facial surgery

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LANSING TWP. - Mayra Gomez had to remind herself all day Sunday that she wasn't dreaming.

She really was in a frosty place called Michigan, with colorful trees, friendly people and a chance at life-changing surgery for her son, Jose Cetina, nearly 3, born with a cleft lip and palate.

And she has two Lansing teens to thank for that.

Lauren LaPine and Hannah Decker, both 17-year-old seniors at Lansing Catholic High School, raised $5,000 to bring Jose and 3-year-old Alexia Gaspar-Espadas to Lansing from their homes in southern Mexico. Both are scheduled for cleft-palate surgery today at Ingham Regional Medical Center.

Along on the same trip is Moises Chiquil, 23, who came to Lansing in 2006 from his home near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, so doctors could correct a severe facial deformity. He'll get follow-up surgery Tuesday at Genesis Surgical Center.

Dr. Rick Smith, an East Lansing-based plastic surgeon, will perform all three surgeries.

He agreed to do the work for free for one simple reason: "It gives the children a chance to achieve a normal life."

Moises is living proof of that. He worked as a restaurant busboy, hiding his misshapen face behind the bill of a baseball cap.

Today, his once-crooked teeth are straight and white, thanks to two years in braces. His thousand-watt smile is quick. He's soft-spoken, but no longer afraid to look people in the eye.

"In the past, when I asked for things, people would deny me," he said Sunday through the help of an interpreter. "They would not acknowledge me. Now, people are able to respond to me."

He works as an assistant to a restaurant owner, doing everything from handling bills to waiting tables or filling in for the cook. He helps support his ailing mother. He also often steps in on guitar with a Christian rock band called Agua Viva - Living Water.

The final step

On Tuesday, Smith will reshape his nose to make it more symmetrical and remove scar tissue left by the previous surgery. Moises almost passed on this final step because the last one caused so much pain.

Now that he's decided to take it, he said he feels "happy, contented, very tranquil."

An international cast teamed together to bring Moises here in 2006 for his initial surgery, to correct a facial deformity caused by a one-in-a-million birth defect.

Peter LaPine, a Michigan State University professor and larynx and voice specialist, has organized 34 trips to Mexico to help kids with cleft lip, cleft palate and other birth defects. Jim and Jill Fedewa - who have since moved to that part of Mexico - hosted Moises during his stay. Dr. George Poletes performed the surgery. Angel Notion, a medical charity run by expatriate Lavonna Redman, helped coordinate everything.

Friends with a goal

But it was the two 17-year-olds who started putting it all together for Alexia and Jose.

Lauren and Hannah, who lives in Delta Township, have been fast friends since their freshman year. Peter LaPine is Lauren's dad. She knew he made trips to help kids in Mexico.

"My daughter has always wanted to get involved," Peter LaPine said.

He was hesitant. "I told her, 'This is really not a lot of fun. These kids have severe problems,' " he said.

"He wanted me to be mature enough to handle it," Lauren said.

Finally, last December, Peter LaPine agreed to allow Lauren and Hannah to volunteer on one of his trips. Their mission: filling out charts with the kids' names and their parents' names, taking pictures of their deformities. Ready as they were, they still were surprised by the depth of poverty in the town of Nicte-ha, outside the booming resort city of Playa del Carmen.

"They had dirt streets," Lauren said.

"Paper houses," Hannah said.

"Stray dogs all over," Lauren said.

Crowds waiting to get in to see the medical team, who all had one thing in common:

"They were really grateful," Lauren said.

Love in action

On a religious retreat in March, Lauren listened to a speech titled "Love in Action." It struck her that maybe, just maybe, she could do more to help the kids she had met in Nicte-ha.

"It was only an idea," she said.

But then she talked to her parents, and to Hannah. She put her idea - bring kids here for surgery unavailable in Mexico - into words.

They agreed to make the words become reality.

They set a goal: raise $5,000 for plane tickets. The girls sent a letter to the families of Lansing Catholic classmates, raising about $3,000. Hannah's mom, Candy Decker, raised the final $2,000 from her employer, Emergent Biosolutions.

The girls rounded up hotel rooms at the Courtyard by Marriott, warm clothes and car seats for the kids. They recruited classmates to make sure their guests had meals, toys and more.

They sent a polite letter to Smith, asking him to use his expertise for the two tiny patients.

It was an easy sell.

Smith has made surgical mission trips to Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil.

"This is great, that two high schoolers would have the motivation to bring these kids from Mexico, to really give them a good opportunity at life," he said.

Alexia's mom, Marcela Gaspar-Espadas, said she had a hard time believing that teenage girls would spend their time and energy to help babies who live thousands of miles away.

Inspiring others

Now, she said their example has inspired her to help other families with special- needs children when she returns to Mexico.

"I want them to know the children can be independent," she said. "They don't have to be dependent and closed off."

Moises said he hopes Alexia's and Jose's lives are changed for the better, as his was.

"I'm very grateful to all the people who have made this possible and helped me," he said