Corrective surgery brightens a girl’s future
MIRI: Sophia Sulau’s dream to look normal was realised when an operation was performed on her cleft lip recently.
The corrective surgery to seal her upper lip is the reason for the big smile on her face, giving her more courage and confidence to move on and mingle with people.
“Above all, I am thankful to surgeon Dr Kim Tan and his surgical team for giving me back my smile,” Sophia acknowledged.
“Without this surgical team, I would probably live forever in deformity and continue to be despised and mocked while my future would be bleak too,” she told The Borneo Post at the post-operation review clinic at Columbia Asia Hospital-Miri (CAH-M) here recently.
Now the 15-year-old is a normal-looking girl, besides having a good body shape, ideal height and weight and fair complexion.
Though the operation may not give her 100 per cent normality, it at least helps seal up the wound.
The deformity had put Sophia in ‘darkness’ and she was discouraged from going to school, which she should have done like other girls of her age.
With the repair treatment, Sophia’s life would be brighter and she would have more hope and confidence.
The girl also owes her gratitude and appreciation to the Lions Club of Region 3 Bintulu chairman Ronny Ling Chin Ching who helped her by introducing her to the corrective surgery.
Recalling the moment, Sophia said Ling bumped onto her while she was at a shopping mall in Bintulu with her grandmother Lahat.
There, Ling told her about the operation which would be given out for free under the sponsorship of Cleft Lips and Palates Association Malaysia (Clapam).
The Kenyah girl from Belaga is the eldest of five siblings and she had the cleft lip since birth.
Sophia thankedColumbia Asia Hospital-Miri staff for their hospitality during the treatment and Clapam for making it possible for cleft lip and palate patients to have the repair operation.
The operation is a charity project initiated and undertaken by Clapam under Dr Kim Tan from Pantai Hospital in Kuala Lumpur as the founder and advisor.
It is an ongoing campaign and those who need the operation and meet the criteria may register with CAH-M for the next corrective operations.
It is open to those born with cleft lips and palates with a total family income of less than RM2,000 a month.
Source: Borneo Post Online
Published: 29 Oct 2013
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