Testimonials: Before and After Smiles...

Operation Smile's volunteer medical professionals travel around the world to treat children suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts mean new smiles for thousands of children, including these former patients:

Lulu

Min Zhu

Liu

Lulu's Story

One day, as Mr. Yuan was walking down the street, he noticed a bundle of cloth lying on the side of the road. As he approached it, Mr. Yuan realized it was not a bag of unwanted garbage, but rather an unwanted newborn baby boy cruelly cast away by his own parents because of his cleft lip and cleft palate. With his umbilical cord still attached, baby Lulu was immediately abandoned after his birth and left to die alone on the dirty roadside after only a few hours of life. Mr. Yuan had the perfect name for the boy-- Lulu. Mr. Yuan adopted Lulu despite the opposition from his four children that he could not possibly support a new baby. Mr. Yuan and his wife sustained themselves by begging on the street and growing vegetables on a small plot of land. Despite their humble disposition, Mr. and Mrs. Yuan were adamant about keeping Lulu and saved every cent of their earnings to pay for his school tuition.

As he grew older, Lulu always studied very hard, never forgetting the hardships his family had to go through to fund his education. Although Lulu ranked at the top of his class, he was nonetheless constantly teased by his classmates about his appearance.

Lulu was 12 years old when his father was reading the newspaper and came across an article about an upcoming Operation Smile mission. Mr. Yuan broke open the family savings to pay for the two hour bus ride to Xi’an. When Lulu was selected for surgery to correct both his cleft lip and cleft palate, Mr. Yuan burst into tears and Lulu, also weeping, embraced his father. After the successful surgery, Lulu felt confident for the first time in his life when he looked in the mirror and did not turn the other way when talking to people on the street.

Now Lulu is excited for what the future holds for him and seizes every opportunity to smile.