Donation protected
Hello! My name is Felippe Sartorato and I am a plastic surgery fellow at St. Joseph's University Medical Center in New Jersey where I completed my general surgery residency in June of 2022 and started my plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship in July. In collaboration with CURE International, a global non-profit offering medical services to children, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a surgical mission trip to Lusaka, Zambia, where I performed surgical procedures for congenital craniofacial defects such as cleft lips and cleft palates. Working alongside my mentor Dr. Silvio Podda, Director of the Plastic and Reconstructive surgery department at my hospital, I saw first-hand how he and his team have been participating year after year in Africa mission trips, earnestly helping to permanently change the lives of hundreds of children.
It has always been a dream and goal of mine to participate in this surgical mission trip. This past November I was given that opportunity and together as a team we operated on over 50 children during a five-day period. The country of Zambia has only two permanent plastic surgeons to serve the population of 18+ million, and Dr. Podda brings his residents to Zambia every year to help provide necessary treatments that would otherwise be inaccessible. Families receive the entire care (surgery, pre-operative and post-operative care, etc) free of cost.
Traveling to Zambia was a completely self-funded trip, and all donations will go directly to the cost of my travel, lodging and necessary supplies. Dr. Podda hosts this trip annually, so funds raised will also support future trips.
Below I have attached pictures of our team as well as before and after shots of some of the children we operated on. Thank you so much in advance for any donation you are able to make.
Below is a link with more information about CURE as well as a personal story about a patient and one of the families Dr. Podda provided care to on one of his previous trips.
Organizer
Felippe Sartorato
Organizer
Hoboken, NJ