Mulgrave Private Hospital and Children First Foundation

His journey to their care has been five years in the making, but it is thanks to the teams at Children First Foundation and Mulgrave Private Hospital that James is now preparing to return home not only with renewed confidence, but a better future.

James was born in a remote village in the Solomon Islands, so isolated that just getting to the nearest town with access to communications is a two-day journey by dirt road and boat. There is no running water or electricity, nor easy access to healthcare. His family, that includes six siblings, say when he was younger James liked to meet people, but as the talented singer grew older he was bullied about his appearance and disabilities and gradually withdrew from the outside world. James was born with a cleft palate and no lower eyelids. The cleft was so severe it caused a hole in the roof of his mouth that impacted his ability to eat and drink. Not being able to close his eyelids eventually caused him to go blind.

James underwent complex reconstructive surgery at Mulgrave Private Hospital in July. Plastic surgeon James Leong worked with the Children First Foundation to help make it happen.

Children First Foundation is a Melbourne-based not-for-profit that helps to bring children with operable conditions who cannot be treated in their home countries to hospitals across Australia. It receives no government funding and is funded through individual donors, corporations, trusts and foundations.

Professor Leong said that helping children like James was the right thing to do. “In Australia we have the ability and the resources to help,” he says. Of the surgery, he says it was six hours that came from the kindness of people trying to help someone dealt with harshly by nature. “It was sad for us to see him like this.

“There's such a willingness of nurses and theatre technicians and anaesthetists and surgeons wanting to just be able to contribute,” Professor Leong said. “I don't know what it is, it might be human nature, you know, to have this inner need to be able to give back to society and to help someone who is in need.”

Despite the early start on a Sunday, Professor Leong was surround by a team of a dozen colleagues that included anaesthetic nurses, scrub nurses, theatre technicians, anaesthetists and a further three surgeons who had all donated their time.

Professor Leong also praised the generosity of Mulgrave Private Hospital.

The hospital doesn’t do elective surgeries on a Sunday, but on this day it opened its doors and its team their hearts to provide surgical services and ICU care for James. Hospital CEO Maree Wilson said when approached by Professor Leong to assist, the team was excited to be able to volunteer to help make a difference to James’ future outlook and appearance.

“We entered our professions as we wanted to care for people in their times of need and this is a great example of being able to contribute to enhancing a young man’s life,” she said.

Professor Leong said one of the most difficult things when doing humanitarian work in Australia was finding a hospital who would offer its facilities pro-bono. “The staff are fantastic, they give their time and come in at their own cost, but we can’t do this work without a theatre and a ward, and at times an intensive care unit,” he said.

Lillian Sade has been at her brother’s side since they arrived in Melbourne for the surgery. “James is very excited and happy to have the surgery, it has been a long journey,” Lillian Sade said. She was also able to Facetime their mother Annie at home so she could send her love. Lillian had been holding her brother’s hand, whispering words of encouragement, but became emotional when he was wheeled into theatre.

Mum of three Nicole Vicic was quick to wrap a reassuring arm around her shoulders. “We are all here to take good care of him,” she says. Ms Vicic is an anaesthetic nurse who says she always wanted to do volunteer work overseas. “I have three children and I am very grateful they are all healthy,” she said. “All kids deserve a good start in life and the chance to be able to care for James here in Australia is something I feel very privileged to be able to do.”

Chris Taylor is a volunteer who first met James when he was four after she travelled to the remote village where he lived. “From the capital Honiara you have to take a boat to his island which takes up to four hours,” she said. “Then it’s an eight-hour 4WD truck ride on a terrible track that’s often impassible to reach his village.” She said James then was chatty and confident and happily playing with other children.

“At that age, the other children didn’t care what he looked like,” Ms Taylor said. In 2019 she approached the Children First Foundation to help bring James to Australia for surgery.

The pandemic and delays in getting travel documents meant it would take a further five years, but his family say it was worth the wait as the surgery is now complete and James is thriving. “He's been up and about running around,” Professor Leong said. “He’s very good.”

Professor Leong said the surgery had successfully repaired the lip deformity and cleft on the left and right side of James’ face. “Unfortunately, because he didn’t get surgery on his lower eyelids when he was a baby, we couldn’t save his sight so James is blind,” Professor Leong said.

As for James, he says he is happy to be heading home to family and back to singing and playing piano in church.

“His life will be very different,” Professor Leong said.