By Kathryn Barrett, WVEC
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA — A 15-year-old from Ethiopia finally received a life-altering surgery Tuesday.
Hundreds of Hampton Roads children participated in last weekend’s Final Mile at the Shamrock Sportsfest. Many of them raised money for Operation Smile, and one teenager running with them personified the reason for the mile.
Tuesday, Edelawit sat quietly, filling pages of a coloring book while she waited for her cleft lip operation at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Though the surgery was delayed by two hours, she did not seem to mind.
It didn’t surprise her surgeon, who asserted what an “incredible, adorable person” she was.
Edelawit’s surgery is not a typical, complicated craniofacial surgery case that Operation Smile usually brings to CHKD.
We asked whether Edelawit would have orthodontics work, and thought she may, Dr. Bill Magee, Operation Smile co-founder explained that repairing the lip will actually help naturally push the teeth back into place.
The hope is for Edelawit to return home and be considered a normal child. That is all she wants, and for kids in Hampton Roads raising money for Operation Smile in Final Mile, it was an opportunity to learn firsthand the impact of their volunteerisms.
“Not only do they run for their physical health, but they’re running for service, to serve another person,” said Magee, DDS, MD. “They see they can do it, that they have power.”
Edelawit’s surgery lasted about an hour and a half, and she will go home to her host family Tuesday evening.