Don Shelby Reports

(WCCO) Nearly 20 years ago, WCCO-TV followed a Minnesota medical team to the South American country of Venezuela on an important mission. That mission was to fix deformities in children – cleft lips and palettes.

No one knows what causes this problem. Even today, there are only theories that it's caused by genetics, poor nutrition or toxins. But it is still two to three times more common in developing nations.

And the stories touched the hearts of thousands -- viewers at home who watched the miraculous transformation performed by Minnesota doctors.

Don Shelby caught up with the surgeon who lead that team, Dr. Marty Adson, and photojournalist Bob Cowan. They talked about what they remember from the mission known as Operation Smile. (Excerpts from the original Operation Smile are in italics.)

If one looks, there are children who desperately need the attention of modern medicine," the original report stated. "But one must look, because the children are kept hidden. In medical terms these children have cleft lips and cleft palettes. In personal terms, most cannot eat or talk properly. Many will be social outcasts.

Cowan: It was a number of years ago but those images are indelible.


Shelby: Do you remember the first moment that we walked into that large screening room and for the first time and saw 250 children with all of these deformities?

Eating and drinking, even nursing, is a serious problem for these children.

Shelby: I remember being just, my breath taken away, I was so shocked by what I was seeing.

Cowan: I was shocked as well. I couldn't believe these kids weren't just taken care of.

Tears of joy. A mother finds her child's name on the list of the chosen. Now uncertainty, as they turn their children's faces and futures over to foreign doctors.

Shelby: How about these doctors and nurses and anesthesiologists, who just gave up all of this time to make money back in the states, to dedicate themselves to helping.

Cowan: The medical team dedicated their lives in a way I've never seen before.

We are permitted unprecedented access to the operating rooms. The Minnesota team leader, Dr. Marty Adson, explains what they're doing to our young friend, Jose Manuel.

"Actually you can see him now," said Adson, "He's placing a stitch in the muscle and now he's drawing the lip together."

"Repairing a cleft lip is probably one of the more elegant operations plastic surgeons do," said Adson, "It's fun. Kind of combines surgical techniques with some artistry."

Dr. Marty Adson specialized in the finest micro-surgeries. To repair a child's smile, gave him great pleasure.

"A child with a cleft lip has got such an obvious facial deformity that they're just shunned and ridiculed and everything. And actually in many countries it's perceived as a curse on the family," said Adson.

Cowan: Little Jonathan? I found him, we found each other, we were kind of wandering around the hospital grounds and he had wandered away from his mom. Despite all his deformities, you could tell he just shown through all the problems.

Shelby: You could see it in his eyes.

His mother prays Jonathan will be chosen for this operation. It would mean repairing his face before it destroys his spirit. Operation Smile surgeon Dr. Marty Adson of Minneapolis returned with us to Venezuela in October paying what you might say was the ultimate house call.

All of us had to smile when we catch our first glimpse of Jonathan Villes.

Adson: It's interesting how out of 140 operations how you remember certain families and certain children.

Shelby: You've done so many operations on so many children. But I saw your face brighten when we were watching Jonathan appear. What stuck out about him?

Adson: Jonathan just had kind of an electric personality. He was young enough, I believe he was 2 years old. And Jonathan hadn't realized that he was different. He just had such a joy for life.

Dr. Adson still sees that joy when he looks at a photograph of little Jonathan. Even though that photo is out of reach for him now.

Adson: In the year 2000, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and then it eventually progressed enough so I didn't feel comfortable doing surgery. So I retired in 2003 and within probably three or four years I was in a wheelchair unable to use my legs.

Shelby: You've spent a lifetime helping heal people, repair people with medicine, but that medicine can't heal you?

Adson: Yeah, I guess I get kind of resentful that they don't have more to offer. Actually, I miss the technical aspects of surgery. But mostly I miss relating to the patients and being able to change their life in a positive way. Yeah, I do really miss that.

Shelby: So what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Adson: Well, I don't know the answer to that. It seems like every time I find something to do, I'm beset by more limitations as the disease progresses. Spending a life in medicine you see lots of unfairness. Lots of people that have to deal with disease and lose a lot. So I don't feel like I'm any different than most of those people.

But it's because of the work of Dr. Adson and the other volunteers that some of those people are smiling today. And their smiling faces, the handiwork of Marty Adson, is one part of him his disease will never take away.

As we leave, Jonathan bids us farewell with a traditional gesture. He asks for our blessing.

After we did those stories, WCCO collected more than $200,000 from viewers to return to Venezuela for more surgeries.

Adson has had such an incredible career -- changing lives here in Minnesota as well as overseas. Even though he is no longer doing surgery, he's still very involved with the Smile Network and helping children get their smiles back.

Joan Gilbertson, Producer
Contact Joan

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

More Special Reports

• All Special Reports
• New Economy
• Good Question
• Reality Check
• Don Shelby's Good To Know
• Finding Minnesota
• I-TEAM Investigations
• Project Energy