Seven-Month-Old from Nepal Will Receive Life-Changing Surgery December 18 as Part of Operation Smile’s World Care Program

Operation Smile will provide reconstructive surgery to Tendral Meytok Gurung, a seven-month-old girl from Nepal.  She joins more than 200 other patients treated through Operation Smile’s World Care Program.  Tendral, born with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate, will receive reconstructive surgery on Thursday, December 18 at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.  Operation Smile CEO and Co-founder Dr. Bill Magee will donate his services and perform the surgeries to repair Tendral’s cleft lip and cleft palate.  Tendral and guardians Lama Tenzin and Samchue Negi, arrived in Norfolk on Monday, December 8 and will stay approximately six weeks. Courtland Reeves and his wife Ilonka Harezi of TESLAR Global Technology in Miami, Fla., have sponsored some of the expenses. 

Three Virginia Beach families will host Tendral and Samchue during the infant’s surgery and recovery period.  The families of Kevin and Melissa Dibona, Tom and Barbara Beers, and Steve and Mara Fredrickson are excited about this opportunity and will share time hosting them in their homes.

Buddhist monks Lama Tenzin and Onchung Rinpoche are the founders of Himalayan Kids, a project of Children’s Education Development (CED), a non-profit organization that seeks to preserve ancient Tibetan culture by assisting young children, primarily girls, from Dolpo and other Himalayan villages with health and education support.  Lama Tenzin’s work caught the attention of Courtland Reeves and his wife Ilonka Harezi of TESLAR Global Technology in Miami, Fla., who are sponsoring a documentary being filmed about his life and work with orphans in the Himalayan Mountains.  CED’s mission is to provide a caring, positive environment and modern education for orphans, destitute, and underprivileged children of the Himalayan border regions without regard to race, religion, or caste.  The children live in a home in Dehradun, in the Himalayan state of Uttaranchal in northern India.  They receive an education and are returned back to the villages so that they can share what they’ve learned; helping to elevate/educate the other villagers.

While Lama Tenzin was in North Dolpo at Sal Dang village, located about 16,000 feet in the Himalyan mountains on the border of Nepal and Tibet, he learned about Tendral.  Her family has three other healthy children.  A fourth child, a boy, was born with a cleft palate and because of the deformity, was left in a basket in a wood shed to die soon after his birth.  Not wanting the same to happen to Tendral, Lama Tenzin convinced her mother to let him care for Tendral at his CED home in Northern India.  Lama Tenzin became concerned about the survival of Tendral because of the difficulty she has drinking from a bottle.  The milk often goes up her nose and down her airway, causing her to gag. 

Cynthia Golub, VP of Brand Strategy & New Business Development at TESLAR, was aware of Operation Smile’s work through Dee Dee Sides, Operation Smile Northeast Regional Development Director/Global Talent Liaison. In October, Cynthia contacted Dee Dee and asked for Operation Smile’s help. 

Lama Tenzin has worked numerous times with the Dalai Lama and is asking him to bless Tendral and the documentary.  In Nepal, Tendral’s name means “harmony flower,” and everyone involved in helping this baby hopes she blossoms into a happy and healthy girl.  Once recovered, Tendral will return to Lama Tenzin’s CED home.
 
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 120,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and the organization has a presence in 51 countries.  In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency. 



Tendral Meytok Gurung
Born April 30, 2008 in Nepal with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate