Local Seven-Year-Old Born in China with Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate is Helping to Bring Smiles to Children Around the World

Approximately 2,000 elementary school students from 130 schools in Virginia and the U.S. are participating in the Operation Smile Final Mile to get fit and raise money for Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity.  In September, students ages 7-13 participating in the Operation Smile Final Mile began running to complete 25.2 miles, in order to run their final mile on the boardwalk on March 15 for a total of 26.2 miles, the equivalent of a marathon. One of the children running is Danielle Wuertz who was born in China with a cleft lip and cleft palate.  The Wuertz family adopted Danielle from an orphanage in Jilin, China, when the little girl was 3 ½ years old.  Now, Danielle is 7 years old and lives in Chesapeake with her parents and three brothers.  Danielle attends Atlantic Shores Christian elementary school in Virginia Beach and, along with her three brothers, is participating in the Operation Smile Final Mile running program and collecting pledges for Operation Smile.  Sixty elementary schools in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown and Williamsburg are participating in the Operation Smile Final Mile program and hundreds of students are collecting pledges for Operation Smile.  Danielle is enjoying running for this cause, saying, “It helps me stay healthy and I’m helping children who don’t have enough money to fix their lips.”

Danielle has undergone nine surgeries at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters to repair her cleft lip and cleft palate.  She is not an Operation Smile patient, but her surgeon is Dr. Richard Rosenblum, an Operation Smile medical volunteer.  In the Philippines 25 years ago, Richard Rosenblum, a 16-year-old high school student, joined his father, who was offering his talent as a dentist on that mission.  During the mission, Richard fell in love with medicine and with helping children.  Today, he is a pediatric plastic surgeon in Norfolk, and has served as a medical volunteer on numerous Operation Smile medical missions.

Brigette Clifford, daughter of Operation Smile’s Co-founders Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, helped create the program.  Clifford, mother of four, has three boys who attend Alanton Elementary School in
Virginia Beach and are participating in the Operation Smile Final Mile.  As a high school student at Norfolk Academy in 1985, Clifford and other students founded the first Operation Smile student club, called “The Happy Club.”  Today, thousands of students in more than 500 Operation Smile Student Associations worldwide build awareness, raise funds and educate students about the values of commitment, leadership and volunteerism, instilling in them for life the importance of giving to others.  Student volunteers raise an estimated $1.2 million annually for Operation Smile.  At least two high school students accompany each international mission team. 

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.  Since its founding, Operation Smile volunteers have treated more than 115,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its 26 partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.