50th Anniversary Patient Reunion - November 12, 2005

The Institute's Patient Reunion Celebrates 50 Years of Smiles

On a glorious afternoon in November, cheerful melodies resonated from a piano through the Union League Club in New York City. Judging from the music and the smiles of those listening, you would have never guessed that the pianist, George Barboza, was born without a left eye and had undergone multiple surgeries on his left hand. And judging from those same smiles, you may never have guessed that many of the listeners had endured similar hardships.

George's audience had gathered that Saturday to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. Since its founding in 1955, the IRPS has become the largest plastic surgery unit in the country, annually treating more than 2,000 patients with all types of craniofacial malformations. In attendance to mark the occasion were not only the Institute's Director, Dr. Joseph McCarthy, and his colleagues, but also about 100 current and former Institute patients - and lots of great smiles.

It was a reunion of old friends and an opportunity to make new ones, but as anyone who attended might tell you, it was so much more. One by one, patients proudly stepped to the podium to share stories of hardship before surgery and of positive transformation after. Speaker after speaker expressed pride in his or her appearance and profound gratitude for the work of the Institute Team.

Betsy McNally, a patient of the Institute since 1964, spoke eloquently about facial difference: "A facial difference isn't a curse, it's a gift. It makes you work harder at becoming the best person you can be. When you have friends, you have truer friends."

Sage Volkman, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Utah, also spoke of a friendship. At the age of five she suffered third- and fourth-degree burns on most of her body and has since undergone 78 surgeries. "Before they would put me to sleep I was always scared," she recalled, "until I looked at Dr. McCarthy's eyes behind that mask. They were so kind."

"In a room filled with facial differences," noted Scott Donnelly, capturing the spirit of the afternoon, "all of our faces share the same expression. Look around, everyone. We are all smiling. Widely. Honestly. And gratefully."