Three Generations of Patients for COTA

These three beautiful girls are part of a multi-generational family of patients who have followed Children of the Americas team since 2003. One of their family members was a stateside patient in our COTA program, and returned to the family after 8 weeks of staying in KY for donated surgery. Their aunt (background) had gallbladder surgery in 2008 during a COTA team. Their grandmother has had two surgeries, and little Rosemary (bottom right) has had three surgical corrections of her cleft lip and palate by our volunteer plastic surgeons. The patriarch of this large and close-knit family is currently very ill. A few months ago he lost his job picking coffee beans on a local plantation. His biggest concern is how his family of 13 children will continue to be financially viable if he becomes too ill to care for them. Albert is relieved to know that once a year COTA physicians and surgeons will be in Guatemala to make sure his family is as healthy as possible.