KNAPP CREEK — These days little Chandon Hitchcock is giving his family and friends lots of big smiles thanks to an international agency that provided reconstructive surgery for him.

Chandon, 1, of Knapp Creek, was born with a unilateral cleft lip and cleft palate as well as hearing loss in both ears, and received reconstructive surgery in late August thanks to Operation Smile based in Norfolk, Va.

“He had very extensive facial reconstruction,” said Chandon’s mother, Bobbi Lawson-Berg. Born at Olean General Hospital, Chandon was taken to Buffalo Women and Children’s Hospital where they were told his surgeries would be extended over a period of eight years. An initial operation was performed on Chandon’s lip in Buffalo, but the family soon learned of the Operation Smile organization through a relative. Ms. Lawson-Berg said her father’s employer is a friend of the founder and CEO of Operation Smile, Dr. William Magee Jr.

Dr. Magee, a plastic surgeon, began the program in 1982 with his wife, Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker, after the two had taken a trip to the Philippines with other medical volunteers to repair children’s cleft lips and cleft palates.

Ms. Lawson-Berg, who is a bus driver for the Olean City School District and also works for the Carrier Coach company, said she had seen information commercials regarding Operation Smile prior to Chandon’s birth. While she was sympathetic to the commercials she didn’t give them much regard at the time.

“After he (Chandon) was born it was a whole different story, I’d watch them for hours if I could,” she said.

Ms. Lawson-Berg said they met with Dr. Magee when Chandon was 6 months old in Norfolk.

“He (doctor) came in on his day off just to see him ... he wrote down everything he would do for the surgery by hand,” she said.

Dr. Magee offered to provide Chandon’s surgery at no cost to the family with Chandon’s state medical insurance providing for his hospital stay at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

During the four and a half hour procedure, extra adenoidal tissue was cut away from Chandon’s ear drum which has improved his hearing, and he had complete reconstruction surgery of his palate and lips.

Ms. Lawson-Berg said Chandon is now receiving extensive speech therapy through an early intervention program, and the family will return to Norfolk in the spring to have Chandon checked by the doctor. The organization also has offered to fly the family to Virginia.

Ms. Lawson-Berg said Chandon’s older sisters, Tayler, 14, Leah, 11, and Morgan, 7, are glad their little brother was helped through the operation.

Tayler, who attends Allegany-Limestone High School, is working on a fundraiser for Operation Smile because of the help the agency provided for her brother. If she does well enough with the fundraiser, Tayler and others could be taken on a mission with the agency to help children in a foreign country.

Ms. Lawson-Berg said Chandon has gained weight since the operation and has had better overall health. She said the family’s United Methodist Church also has helped them when medical expenses and related costs.

“Everytime we went (on a medical trip) the congregation took up a collection to help with gas money needed for Virginia,” Ms. Lawson-Berg said.

While Dr. Magee couldn’t be contacted for a comment as he was out of the country, his public relations spokesperson, Lisa Jones, was able to provide additional information on the organization.

Ms. Jones said Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity

that has medical volunteers who provide surgery for children with correctable facial deformities, such as cleft lips and cleft palates.

In 26 years, the organization’s volunteers have provided free surgeries to more than 120,000 children and young adults in 51 countries. She noted that nine resource countries raise funds and provide medical volunteers, while 42 program countries receive education and training and conduct surgeries.

“Many children born with cleft lips and cleft palates are unable to eat or speak, some are even kept out of school,” Ms. Jones said. “In as little as 45 minutes, a cleft lip surgery can change a child’s life forever.

“Operation Smile brings hope and new smiles to children who want the chance at a normal life.”

For more information on Operation Smile, or its fundraising efforts, call (757) 321-7645, visit the Web site www.operationsmile.org., or address letters to: 6435 Tidewater Drive, Norfolk, Va. 23509.

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