What a week in the LEAP offices! Once we finally recover from planning the most recent trip to Haiti, it’s already time to start gearing up for our next two trips to Belize. It’s a tough job indeed, but one that is completely rewarding when getting to hear stories like that of Lovely, the beautiful Haitian child who will be the focus of next week’s blog.

Want to help out LEAP? Here are the ways you can be praying for us this week:

1) Thank God for yet another safe and successful trip to Port-Au-Prince! Over 40 surgeries were performed and many lives enhanced thanks to the diligence of our team of doctors, nurses, and volunteers. Be sure to check out our LEAP Foundation page on Facebook for photos from the trip!

2) Tomorrow night at the home of Jerry and Linda Hardison, Dr. Hobar will be telling stories and giving an explanation of LEAP’s mission. The Hardison’s daughter, Paige, has been a long-time patient of Dr. Hobar’s, and she and her mother recently traveled to Haiti with LEAP. Thanks to the Hardisons for opening their beautiful home and please pray that our mission will be met with receptive ears!

3) Our next two teams will be serving in Belize: trip one takes place May 31-June 3, and trip two from June 28-July 1. Any prayerful and financial support you can give would be greatly appreciated! You can find out information about the trip on our Causes page (bit.ly/129lbir) as well as how much help each donation provides; for example, $10 provides a post-op care tote, $25 provides a Spanish language translator for the patient and his family…the list goes on. Sneak a peek and, if you like it, be sure to share the page with your friends!

Many blessings,

The LEAP Team

Yesterday, the bulk of the LEAP team returned from yet another very successful trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Be sure to check the blog and our Facebook page next week for bios of all the participating doctors, nurses, and non-medical volunteers, as well as a few stories of the incredible ways in which the Lord worked while we were on the mission.

These trips come to fruition thanks to many avenues, chief among which are the time, prayer, and other resources of our volunteers.

One organization that donated supplies to our most recent trip to Haiti is the Second Life Resources group, one of the Faith In Action Initiatives (FIAI) developed by the executive leadership of Baylor Health Care System (BHCS). There are many FIAI facets, ranging from a disaster relief branch to offering Bible studies for BHCS staff members. Second Life Resources inventories recyclable goods from the Baylor Hospital system and finds both local and international locations for these needed commodities.

The LEAP Foundation and Second Life Resources first teamed up to offer aid in 2010 in response to the Haitian Earthquake. For this most recent trip, they donated baby formula and surgical gowns that were worn by our medical representatives. Thank God for the support of our friends at the FIAI!

More information about the Faith In Action Initiatives can be found online at http://media.baylorhealth.com/pages/faith-in-action.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. This is probably the most advanced mission we have ever done. We evaluated and treated 249 patients the first day. All malnourished children got in depth feeding training and all anemic patients were treated with worming medication and iron.

We completed 101 surgeries in 4 ½ days and in addition to nearly 80 clefts, Drs. Don Meier and Ian Mitchell performed many complex pediatric surgical reconstructions and all of our surgeons contributed to reconstructing many patients with severe burn deformities. Dr. Matt Trovato performed two complex neck and lower facial reconstructions in patients with their lower lips fused to their chests from severe burns. This case was reminiscent of the complex burn reconstruction that the LEAP team performed in the Dominican Republic on 9/11/2001. Our anesthesiologists handled these very difficult airway cases with their expertise and a state of the art Glide Scope that LEAP has purchased. There is no way to extend the neck and directly visualize where to put the breathing tube in these severe neck burns. The Glide Scope has a camera on the end of it and allows visualization from a monitor.

Team members worked 16 hour days to help as many people as possible. Several team members were down with the “Indian Bug” temporarily, but others stepped up to the plate during their temporary absence.

Cheryl Cermin and Cheryl Shell ran the orthodontic and feeding education clinic. They have been making feeding obturators for the severe clefts to make sure that they can breast feed or drink from bottles. It is not an understatement to say that these efforts will result in saving numerous lives.

We saw more than 300 patients overall and numerous patients with anemia that had blood counts too low for surgery were treated with worming medication and iron. The overwhelming cause of anemia in children in Central India is parasites, and this medicine will get rid of them and help these children be ready for surgery next year.

Dr. Meier was the visiting professor for the Indian Medical Association in Sagar, India and spoke to 40 physicians about how to diagnose and treat common pediatric surgical problems, many of which can be fatal if not treated properly. Each Indian physician was given a certificate of completion and Dr. Meier was presented a special award for his contribution to the education of pediatric surgical problems. Dr. Meier and his wife Patsy are working with LEAP and CICM to provide ongoing education and training at the Mission Hospital in Damoh.

Robin Hobar spent time with the 130 children in the Balbhavan Children’s Home, a ministry of CICM that has rescued these children off of the street. These beautiful children are raised with incredible love, nurturing and education and more than 190 have grown and are dispersed throughout Central India as ministers, educators or medical professionals.

Robin also traveled with Dr. Lall’s daughter and son in law, Abhineeta and Greg Matney to the CICM training center, where women are empowered to become self sufficient with skills, confidence and basic business skills. LEAP as an organization is looking at partnering with CICM to develop one of these in a community that has been touched by LEAP/CICM surgical missions.

Dr. Lall estimates that 160 churches have been planted in Central India, directly attributed to the combined LEAP/CICM missions.

Part 2

Robin Hobar has been an essential part of LEAP since its inception. She has been on more than 30 mission trips and has hosted dozens of international patients in her home. She loves LEAP for many reasons but points to her love of Jesus and the look in the faces of the children LEAP helps, as driving reasons for her continued involvement. Robin is known to all for her humble spirit and generous compassion for others, and says her greatest asset is being a mother and knowing how other mother’s feel. Her hobbies include cooking and spending time with her 3 grandchildren.

Dr. Craig Hobar is the Founder and Medical Director of LEAP. He grew up in Tampa, Florida but has lived in Dallas since 1982. He completed 8 years of surgical training at U Texas Southwestern and New York University Craniofacial Institute. He feels that God wires us all to have a place in our heart that only gets touched by helping others. He states that LEAP is 100% God’s and his only role was taking a step forward in faith 22 years ago. His ongoing motivation is to share the love of Christ with others, even when they may not yet know His name. When asked what his hobbies are, he replied, “mostly in this day and age, comparing one ache to the other pain from all of my previous hobbies”.

Dr. Matt Trovato joins us in India on his 5^th LEAP mission. He completed his surgical training in New Jersey, then completed his craniofacial fellowship at Medical City Children’s Hospital. He grew up in New Jersey and currently lives in Dallas with his beautiful wife Jennifer. He attended college at Duke, then went to New Jersey Medical School. He also trained in plastic surgery in New Jersey, hand/micro surgery in San Francisco, and craniofacial surgery in Dallas. Dr. Trovato donates his skills to missions so he can give back with the talents he’s been given, and finds inspiration from the team members. He enjoys cooking and cycling.

Sara Riner has been a surgical first assistant scrub technologist for 14 years. She grew up in Oklahoma and currently resides in Arlington with her husband, Stephen, who is a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine. She’s been on 4 LEAP mission trips. On why she loves mission work she says,”I love to help people! By volunteering with the LEAP Foundation I have been able to make a difference in many people’s lives, meet wonderful people who share a love for serving our Lord by helping the less fortunate, and experience a humbling yet extremely gratifying feeling that comes by doing something to help change a person’s life! My mom always says that to the world you are one person, but to one person you are the world. I think that to many people we have helped, the LEAP Foundation is the world and I feel so thankful and fortunate to be a part of that!” Her hobbies include cooking and spending time with friends and family.

Patsy Mieir is a retired operating room nurse and now spends her time volunteering. She grew up in Tennessee and currently lives in El Paso, Texas. She attended Memphis State University and Baptist School of Nursing. She is married to Dr. Don Meier and has donated a significant part of her career to mission medicine, spending many years in Nigeria. She does mission work because there is a need and she has the skills to meet that need. This is her 1st LEAP mission and she enjoys traveling. Patsy and Don have 3 children and 8 grandchildren.

Dr. Ian Mitchell has been a pediatric surgeon for 2 years. He grew up in Toronto and Buffalo but currently lives in San Antonio. He attended McGill university in Montreal, followed by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Mitchell joins us in India on his 3rd LEAP trip and says he loves this work because he can bring care to those who need it most and teach them to help themselves. He enjoys rugby, cooking, skiing, and movies in his free time. Dr. Mitchell was instrumental in helping LEAP set up the disaster relief program in Haiti. He says he is best known as “Ale’s husband”.

Parker Parker has been a surgical technologist for 3 years. She grew up and lives in Texas and went to Anthem College. She joins us in India on her 1st LEAP trip. She has 4 kids and they spend their time swimming, biking, playing games, and traveling.

Jessy Thomas has been a registered nurse for 20 years. She grew up in India and currently lives in Dallas. She completed her schooling in India. She does mission work because it’s been a dream since she was a child. She had seen medical personnel come and help people in India and wanted to be like them. She joins us in India on her 1st LEAP trip and enjoys cooking and TV.

Erika Grimes has been a registered nurse at Children’s Medical Center in the pediatric intensive care unit for 11 years. She grew up in Oklahoma and lives in Dallas currently. She attended Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. She does mission work because it’s inspiring to see everyone come together and work so hard to accomplish a common goal and because the kids are so sweet and thankful. This is her 4th LEAP trip and she enjoys traveling, yoga, dogs, and piano.

Marc DiNardo has been an aerospace engineer for the last 26 years. He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and still lives there with his wife, Dr. Liz Drum. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He enjoys mission work as an opportunity to serve others; he joins us in India on his 2^nd LEAP mission. His hobbies include hiking, bicycling, and traveling. and serving at church.

Dr. Tommy Spain Jr. is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. He grew up in many places including Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Houston, and Cleveland, but currently calls Grapevine, Texas his home, where he lives with his lovely wife and 3 children. He attended college at Johns Hopkins University and medical school at UT San Antonio. This is Dr. Spain’s 7^th trip with LEAP. He explains that mission work is important to him because it’s a biblical commandment to spread the word of God and take care of orphans and widows.  He enjoys running, hunting, and acupuncture.

Dr. Deryk Walsh is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s Medical Center. He grew up “all over”, including Belize, Canada, the Dominican Republic to name a few of the countries. He currently he lives in Grapevine, Texas with his wife and 3 children. He went to Texas A&M, then UT Houston for medical school. He does mission work to glorify God’s love.  This is Dr. Walsh’s 4^th LEAP mission. His hobbies include spending time with his family and learning the guitar.

Heather Martin is a surgical technologist at Children’s Medical Center. She grew up in Dallas. She is currently going to UTA for her BSN. This is her 4^th LEAP mission trip. She does mission work because she wants to make a difference in people’s lives through serving the Lord by helping the less fortunate. She enjoys painting in her free time. Heather is truly one of LEAP’s rising superstars.

Michelle Krazovitsky is RN at Children’s Medical Center and serves as both an OR circulator and scrub tech. She currently lives in Dallas but  grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. She went to college at Texas Women’s University. Mission work calls her because she became a nurse to help people. Her parents devoted much of their time helping people emigrate from Russia, so she wanted to find a way to help in her own way. This is her first LEAP mission trip. She enjoys running, video games, reading, and movies.

Cheryl Shell is a pediatric nurse practitioner in Frisco, Texas. Previously she was a nurse practitioner and team leader for the craniofacial team at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul Minnesota for 10 years. She joins us on her second LEAP mission to India. She crew up in Maize, Kansas but currently lives in Frisco. She attended college at Wichita State University and attained her masters at the University of Minnesota. She does mission work because it’s an opportunity to use the skills she’s acquired to give back in a meaningful way, and work with other amazingly talented professionals. It helps to ground her and realize how fortunate we are. She explains that it’s a gift to be part of a special organization. In her free time she enjoys gardening and spending time with family.

Mallory Bida is a registered nurse and works  in the NICU at Medical City Children’s Hospital, and is currently pursuing her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner degree. She grew up in Arlington, TX and now lives in Dallas, Texas. She attended the University of Texas, the University of Texas at Arlington and Angelo State University. She wants to do mission work because “Jesus put a crazy insatiable desire in me”. She says it’s a whole lot easier to live an abundant life and keep your eyes fixed on Christ when you’re on a mission. This is her 2nd trip with LEAP. Mallory enjoys surfing, climbing, hiking, jogging, traveling, flying, and anything that sounds adventurous and fun. At the age of 25, Mallory is a retired missionary pilot, previously piloting planes for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Indonesia.

Dr. Eric Payne is a plastic surgeon in Houston. He opened his practice in July after completing his craniofacial fellowship in Dallas Medical City Children’s Hospital . He grew up in Dallas, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. He went to Loma Linda University School of Medicine, which was founded to create physicians that do mission work. and then Southwestern Adventist University. He wants to do mission work because he grew up with an appreciation for mission work because his parents were missionaries in college. He has been on 3 LEAP missions and enjoys snowboarding.

Dr.Alejandra Garcia Mitchell, fondly known as Ale, is a pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgeon living in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, Ian. She grew up in Mexico City and Houston but spent several years in Dallas and most recently in Long Island, New York. She attended Rice University and then UT Southwestern. Ale spent a year serving as the first ever LEAP fellow, and was instrumental in setting the LEAP Haiti disaster relief program. Ale is currently serving as the Director of Latin American Development for LEAP.  She enjoys soccer, painting, and creating mosaics.

Dr. Anderson-Cermin has been an orthodontist for 23 years. She grew up in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin and lives there now after spending many of her early professional years in Dallas. She attended the University of Minnesota, Harvard, Boston University, and UT Southwestern. She does mission work to share the talents God has given her with people in need. She has been going on LEAP missions since 1991. She enjoys traveling, knitting, skiing, and being with family. Dr. Cermin is one of the founding members of LEAP and travels yearly to Dallas for executive board meetings. Dr. Cermin’s husband, Jon has chronicled LEAP’s mission from the beginning volunteering his professional filmmaking skills and talent on numerous LEAP trips. Their children Haley and Jeremy were both part of the LEAP 2012 India mission trip.

Kayleigh Pippen is a nutriton/pre-med student at the University of Texas at Austin and the current LEAP intern. She grew up in Frisco, Texas and now lives in Plano. She enjoys mission work because, “it’s an inspiring and humbling experience to see a child’s life changed, little do they know they change our lives as well.” She joins us in India on her 4th LEAP mission and enjoys playing sports, working with kids, and serving at church.