Natalie Wright, from Provo, Utah, is one of the first pediatric patients to undergo facial reanimation surgery at the University of Iowa Hospital, and hopes to be able to smile again.
PR Log - Apr 10, 2013 - Some kids want a new car, a bike, or an iPhone. Sixteen year-old Natalie just wants to smile. She wants a huge smile that shows the world how happy she is inside. For the last 12 years, half of her face has been paralyzed. She has stood in front of the mirror many times and smiled with only the right side of her face responding. Her mom has walked by the bathroom and watched her grab her lip and pull it up to the left to see what she looked like with a big smile. Now, her dreams might come true. Doctors, friends, donors, and her parents have rallied together to give Natalie a chance to smile.
Natalie was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was two years old. Although there is a high success rate for treating her type of cancer, the location of Natalie’s tumor is difficult. She has undergone three surgeries so far, which have left her without the ability to smile. For a time, she also lost the ability to walk, swallow, see out of her left eye, and hear from her left ear. Through a series of miracles, she has overcome many of these challenges, but still longs for the ability to smile.
Natalie and her parents hope Dr. Douglas Henstrom, a BYU graduate and native of Provo, Utah, can help her. Last year at this time, they met with Henstrom, the Director of Facial Plastic Surgery and the Facial Nerve Center at the University of Iowa, that does smile surgeries. Henstrom was optimistic the surgery would work. He removed a nerve from Natalie’s left leg, and grafted it into her face. They waited for this nerve to regenerate, and it is now time to remove muscle from her leg and attach it to the grafted nerve in her face.
Natalie is one of the first pediatric patients at the University of Iowa that will undergo facial reanimation surgery. The operation is scheduled for April 18th, and her family is very hopeful that it will be a success.
After the smile surgery, Natalie will need to have another brain surgery. In November of last year, Natalie’s doctors discovered her tumor was growing again, and was big enough that another brain surgery was needed, but that she could have her smile surgery first.
Dr. Henstrom is looking forward to helping Natalie. “I want to do everything I can to help people smile, and this surgery helps people smile again,” says Henstrom. “There is a lot that goes into our non-verbal communication with a simple smile. Being able to do this for Natalie is a humbling experience.”
“The surgery moves tissue from the leg to the face and gets it to work. It is a complicated surgery and takes about nine hours,” added Henstrom. “We have a high success rate with this particular surgery and I look forward to helping Natalie smile again.”
Natalie remembers what it is like to smile, and misses it. “It is crazy and weird to look back and see pictures of me smiling, but know that for the last 12 years, I haven’t been able to. I really hope this surgery is successful so I can show the world how happy I feel.”
“Fighting cancer, and flying across the country for surgery is expensive,” states Natalie’s Mom, Dana Wright. “We are so thankful to FlyerSmiles.com for providing the flights for Natalie, her father, and me.”
This flight is the first of its kind. Although FlyerSmiles.com has provided kids all over the world with free flights, Natalie is the first to fly for a smile operation. “We are really excited to help and we want to do more of this. When Natalie submitted her story on our website, we knew we had to get involved. We want to help kids smile all over the world,” states Michael Gray from FlyerSmiles.com.
You can learn more about Natalie’s story and donate to the cause by visiting Natalie’s Journey. You can also donate miles to help other children on FlyerSmiles.com.
“We encourage parents and children with similar situations to submit their story, so we can provide free medical flights for them,” states Tim Gibson, CEO of FlyerSmiles.com. “If we get enough miles donated, we would fly children and their parents for operations like this every day.”
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Natalie was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was two years old. Although there is a high success rate for treating her type of cancer, the location of Natalie’s tumor is difficult. She has undergone three surgeries so far, which have left her without the ability to smile. For a time, she also lost the ability to walk, swallow, see out of her left eye, and hear from her left ear. Through a series of miracles, she has overcome many of these challenges, but still longs for the ability to smile.
Natalie and her parents hope Dr. Douglas Henstrom, a BYU graduate and native of Provo, Utah, can help her. Last year at this time, they met with Henstrom, the Director of Facial Plastic Surgery and the Facial Nerve Center at the University of Iowa, that does smile surgeries. Henstrom was optimistic the surgery would work. He removed a nerve from Natalie’s left leg, and grafted it into her face. They waited for this nerve to regenerate, and it is now time to remove muscle from her leg and attach it to the grafted nerve in her face.
Natalie is one of the first pediatric patients at the University of Iowa that will undergo facial reanimation surgery. The operation is scheduled for April 18th, and her family is very hopeful that it will be a success.
After the smile surgery, Natalie will need to have another brain surgery. In November of last year, Natalie’s doctors discovered her tumor was growing again, and was big enough that another brain surgery was needed, but that she could have her smile surgery first.
Dr. Henstrom is looking forward to helping Natalie. “I want to do everything I can to help people smile, and this surgery helps people smile again,” says Henstrom. “There is a lot that goes into our non-verbal communication with a simple smile. Being able to do this for Natalie is a humbling experience.”
“The surgery moves tissue from the leg to the face and gets it to work. It is a complicated surgery and takes about nine hours,” added Henstrom. “We have a high success rate with this particular surgery and I look forward to helping Natalie smile again.”
Natalie remembers what it is like to smile, and misses it. “It is crazy and weird to look back and see pictures of me smiling, but know that for the last 12 years, I haven’t been able to. I really hope this surgery is successful so I can show the world how happy I feel.”
“Fighting cancer, and flying across the country for surgery is expensive,” states Natalie’s Mom, Dana Wright. “We are so thankful to FlyerSmiles.com for providing the flights for Natalie, her father, and me.”
This flight is the first of its kind. Although FlyerSmiles.com has provided kids all over the world with free flights, Natalie is the first to fly for a smile operation. “We are really excited to help and we want to do more of this. When Natalie submitted her story on our website, we knew we had to get involved. We want to help kids smile all over the world,” states Michael Gray from FlyerSmiles.com.
You can learn more about Natalie’s story and donate to the cause by visiting Natalie’s Journey. You can also donate miles to help other children on FlyerSmiles.com.
“We encourage parents and children with similar situations to submit their story, so we can provide free medical flights for them,” states Tim Gibson, CEO of FlyerSmiles.com. “If we get enough miles donated, we would fly children and their parents for operations like this every day.”
Read Full Story - Sixteen Year-Old Natalie Dreams of a Smile | More news from this source
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