Leap Foundation Newsletter

My dad always returns from LEAP trips with a fire in his eyes, his manner reminiscent of a child—how he wants to show and tell of the experience. I look at the pictures and listen to the stories but still it’s different actually being there.

The day we left for Dominican, I arrived at DFW at 4:30 am, nervous and excited. This was my first time on a trip as an official team member, and not just “Dr. Hobar’s daughter,” (the 13-year-old who kind of gets in the way, when she’s trying to help.)

At the airport, the team’s scrub tech Dale Green introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Dale.” I noticed an orange residue covering his hand and I tried to politely ignore. Later I would discover that the orange tint on his hands was misapplied self-tanner, when Sherry Colburn, LEAP Director of Missions, called, “Hey Orange-Hands, I need your suitcase.”

I laughed, caught off guard by her blowing everything out of the water. Dale handed Sherry his suitcase, rolled his eyes and smiled. I wondered if the fire in my dad’s eyes had something to do with the spirit of the team. As the week progressed I noticed the spirit progressed too—every meal together, the living together, the morning prayer, the working together, was like a great hand stoking a fire.

In all, the team was 19 doctors, nurses, technicians and support. For a week, we worked in La Romana’s Good Samaritan Hospital. Because there were so many of us including three surgeons, Dr. Craig Hobar, Dr. Amanda Gosman, and Dr. Wynne Hartley, we were able to do 40 cases without being pressed for time.

We pushed two benches against the walls of a narrow hallway to form the “waiting room”. When the waiting room was full, it was nearly impossible to walk from the operating room to the break room without grazing the knees of six nervous mothers. Back in the OR, five medical personnel draped in blue scrubs and magenta crushed velvet head covers with little beaded tassles called back and forth for 20 cc’s of so-and-so and for more irrigation and for Dr. Gonzalez to check the suction. ER couldn’t touch this if it tried.

LEAP has been sending groups to the DR for 14 years, and La Romana for three. Many patients from years past returned to the hospital, some driving from hours away to see the team, and bring their continued thanks and gifts, which in the past have included live chickens.

I hadn’t been to Dominican with LEAP since I was 13, like I said, and then, I was struck by the poverty. It was the first time I had been to a third-world country. I remember seeing a little boy running around without his pants, and just staring at him from the outdoor waiting room at the hospital.

Later, I asked my dad, “How come people don’t have cleft lips in the United States?” He said, “They do.” I slowly began to understand that LEAP and organizations like it were some people’s only hope to overcome their deformities, because of the expense of surgery. Many American babies born with craniofacial abnormalities have surgery only weeks or months after birth, so nobody ever knows. But Dominicans often grow up without having their deformities fixed.

So one can imagine the thrill that circulates here when a team comes through—it is invigorating. Besides, Dominicans are charismatic to begin with. In the hospital, it’s like, “Oh my goodness!” all the time. They are receiving operations—a very basic transaction from our perspective, but its something most LEAP patients have never expected.

This trip reminded me of why DR was LEAP’s first love, and why teams continue going. There is a need here—it’s not usually a life or death situation(though sometimes it is), but it is about improving people’s lives, aiming ultimately to point to God’s loving and healing nature. Still, I am beside myself at the amount of joy that Dominicans have—being around some of the patients and their families, it is clear joy has everything to do with poverty and humility (more accurately the perspective of a poor, humble person), and not really anything to do with money or appearance.

Patients requiring difficult procedures from China, Dominican sponsored by the Landmark Fund to come to the U.S. for surgery.

LI YING WANG
Li Ying Wang came to Dallas 8 months ago to undergo a surgery that would dramatically alter her world.

Everything about Li Ying’s life seems to have been a miracle. Everything from where she was born in China to who her parents are, to the circumstances that would bring her to LEAP.

China Care, an organization which started in the U.S. and has branches residing in China, discovered Li and began to research foundation’s who specialized in charitable surgery. When they found LEAP, and sent pictures of Li to Dr. Hobar, even he admitted the surgery was unlike anything he’d ever took on, and he wasn’t sure how much he could actually do for her. Plus the surgery expenses were overwhelming to consider. But the pieces fell into place. Our Landmark Fund, a special fund that allows us to bring special needs kids to Dallas for surgery, sponsored Li’s journey and surgery. Li and her mom would have a room at the Ronald McDonald House and a welcoming group of Chinese Americans, who would make them feel more at home during this scary time. Dr. Hobar committed, and Li traveled to the U.S. When he saw her for the first time he was floored by the complexity.

But like anybody who meets her, he fell in love with her, and committed whole-heartedly. Though at first Li was scared of Dr. Hobar, she grew comfortable with him, realizing that he wanted to help her and not to hurt her. Frequently her laughs could be heard streaming through the corridors at Ronald McDonald house. She’d fly by from around the corner, laughing, and then three seconds later Dr. Hobar would come from around the corner chasing her. They developed a friendship, Li growing to trust him and Dr. Hobar growing to love her.

Li has the tiniest voice that spouts off Chinese. Though she didn’t know English before she came to the U.S., she was quick to pick up on American phrases and spin them off with an attitude. Because of the hole in her palette, though, she could not pronounce words correctly.

It has been nearly eight months since Li Ying’s surgery, and she has improved her speech dramatically through practice with a speech therapist. Li looks normal now, a small follow-up surgery ahead, just a few small scars will be left.

Talia Alvarado is a five-year-old Dominican girl. LEAP has been operating on Talia since she was a baby. She has been on a rollercoaster of operations—traveling to Dallas three times for surgery, and having multiple surgeries during our trips to Dominican Republic in her few years. Talia’s most recent operation was done in May in the Dominican. The Landmark Fund continues to support LEAP in Talia’s case. She is shy and usually clings to her mother, and can be squeamish due to some of the painful recovery processes she has been through after her surgeries. But sometimes Talia will grant a smile for the doctors and nurses, who take care in bringing her out of her shell. She is a perceptive, watchful kid, who seems to have a highly developed understanding of the things going on around her.

FUNDRAISING EVENTS ARE ESSENTIAL
LEAP AUCTION, WINE TASTING IN ST. CROIX, GIRLS' SHOPPING NIGHT OUT

Hard to believe, but the LEAP auction, is approaching its 16th year! The auction is to be held on September 21.

Other fundraisers which have been backbones for the foundation, and a good way to stay connected, include the Winetasting on April 8, 2006 and the Spring’s girls shopping night.

In March, filmmaker John Cermin and wife Orthodontist and LEAP Board Member Dr. Cheryl Cermin hosted an event in their hometown of St. Croix, Wisconsin. Both play integral roles in LEAP trips—Cheryl does orthodontics and John creates and produces videos for LEAP, each uniquely inspiring its development.

The fundraiser was a wine tasting at Chateau St. Croix Winery and Vineyard. 25 families helped raise $17,000 for LEAP! It just shows how much one event can aid in LEAP’s effort.

The Spring event fundraiser was hosted by Mimi Gilliland (Dr. Grant Gilliland's wife, one of our volunteer surgeons.) It was the 3rd year for Shopping Girls’ Night Out. It provided LEAP funds to underwrite the Belize trip this past month.

Thanks to support, LEAP teams are now providing our services to Dominican Republic, India, Laos, Guatemala and Belize. In the future we hope to expand to Uganda, China and Jamaica.

Cooking day at Ronald McDonald House has residents asking, “Who made this?”

LEAP had its first cooking day at Ronald McDonald House in June. Chef Richard Chamberlain(who will also be doing the auction), cooked up an out-of-this-world beef tenderloin meatloaf, while Dave Thompson, husband of Nurse Leesa Thompson, made practically one of every decadent desert that exists in the modern world. There were about 15 volunteers in all. We plan to continue the cooking day on a monthly basis.

Half the team arrived early to set up. A local television station got the word out of the team’s arrival. Unfortunately, evaluations were held on Mother’s Day, an extremely important holiday to Dominicans (and Americans!), therefore the turnout was less than was prepared for. It is sometimes difficult to get word out to the Batey’s, though these are La Romana’s poorest of people, and perhaps the ones with the most need.

Dr. Craig Hobar was able to go to the public hospital, though, one day when he finished surgery early. Here, two burn patients awaited treatment among dozens of beds of hurting people. In public hospital in Dominican Republic, people sometimes wait in pain for days and weeks for treatment.

One patient, a five-year old, had fresh electrical burns all over his body. The risk for anesthesia would be great. Anesthesiologist Nancy France wanted to run tests, to make sure the boy would be able to remain stable through surgery.

The other man endured gut-wrenching pain, often wriggling in his bed. He took aspirin for pain; in the U.S., he would’ve been on morphine. It didn’t help that the small room in the men’s ward was smoldering. With about 10 beds, and bed-ridden patients, and their family members, the room was overly crowded, moist with humidity and recycled breath.

One man came to Good Samaritan alone. He already had several operations for his cleft lip and palate, though it was hard to tell, as the palate was sparsely patched and the hole still exposed. As he recovered from his surgery, the nurses and Dominican hospital workers made sure he had someone sitting near him. When he awoke he shared his story. He spoke so quietly I could barely make out what he was saying. And he seemed as if he would cry but never did. He talked about how many operations he had to fix his problem, how many times it didn’t work, and how he started his own foundation to help spread the word about cleft lips and palates. He told me “Dr. HoBar” was a testament to God’s love, and how thankful he was for God’s providing him with this team. He had no idea I was Dr. Hobar’s daughter, and as far as I could gather, didn’t really think I knew much about Dr. Hobar’s work. This made his story all the more genuine and deeply felt.

There were 35 cases done over a two day operating schedule. Dr. Grant Gilliland headed up the eye team and Dr. Richard Ha headed up the plastics team.

Angel Santos, a patient that we brought to Dallas a few years ago for surgery came back to see us at the hospital in Belize. He now has a beautiful wife and a 3 year old son that we did palate surgery on. Dr. Gilliland performed Angel’s eyelid revision, a follow-up surgery from his last surgery in Dallas, and Dr. Ha did cleft palate surgery on Angel's son Craig, who he named after Dr. Craig Hobar. We had Angel in one bed in recovery and Craig in the other.

LEAP took a team to Laos in February. Though it was years in the making, Director of Missions Sherry Colburn put much time into making the trip happen.

LEAP will hopefully return to Laos next Spring.

TRIPS
Guatemala October 7-18

FUNDRAISERS
LEAP Auction: SAVE THE DATE for the annual fall dinner/auction to be held at Addison Convention Center on September 21st. Dinner to be catered by Chef Richard Chamberlain, to be accompanied by the silent/live auction.

Please, pray for us.
Please Email any comments, requests, or questions to Laurenhobar@yahoo.com.

LEAP will be taking teams to finish construction of the new operating facility. If you are interested in funding this project, please send your donations to LEAP Foundation, P.O. Box 7452, Dallas, TX. 75209. Thank you for you support.

You can help us "Touch the world, one life at a time". Send your tax-deductible contributions to:

LEAP Foundation
P.O. Box 7452, Dallas TX 75209-0452

For additional information, please contact
LEAP 972-392-2111 or email: LEAP

The Federal Form 990 and Related Schedules for the LEAP Foundation may be inspected at its Dallas office during regular business hours. Requests for such information or availability should be made to 411 N. Washington Suite 6000 Attn: P. Craig Hobar, M.D. Dallas, TX 75246