Foundation fundraiser is a cut above

Deepa Bharath

It’s been a little more than a year since Yu Pirush waited outside a

clinic in Macas, Ecuador, with a hole in his hand.

The 55-year-old Achuar Indian, who lives in the Ecuadorean

rainforest, was bitten by a 7-foot snake when he was out hunting in

the jungle. Because it took him 20 days to walk to the nearest

hospital, the wound became infected and Pirush lost the skin on the

back of his hand.

Plasticos Foundation, a team of doctors and nurses from Newport

Beach that performed plastic surgery on 79 patients in Macas in

August 2003, was able to help Pirush get rid of the infection, but

was unable to perform a skin graft, which would have covered up the

hole in his hand.

Larry Nichter, the plastic surgeon who heads Plasticos missions,

couldn’t help Pirush with the skin graft because the wound had to be

disinfected first. But a year and one month later, Pirush is ready to

move on and get that skin graft in Cuenca, Ecuador, said Denise

Cucurny, trip coordinator and anthropologist for Plasticos.

“He may finally get what he was asking us for all along,” she

said. “To put some meat on his bones.”

Plasticos Foundation makes these trips every year. In November,

the group is scheduled to leave for the mountain town of Coban,

Guatemala, before heading to Pune, India, in January, Cucurny said.

Next year, the foundation plans similar trips to Cuba and Cambodia,

she said.

On Friday and Saturday, the group will hold a fundraiser at

Fashion Island in Newport Beach, which they hope will take them

closer to making those plans a reality. Post impressionist artist

Aldo Luongo will present original works and prints for sale. On

Saturday, he will sign posters. A portion of the proceeds will go to

Plasticos.

Luongo, who is originally from Buenos Aires and now lives in Los

Angeles, said he is always happy to help a good cause.

“It gives me great joy to be able to help through art,” he said.

“It’s just a way for me to give back.”

The fundraiser was the brainchild of surgeon Robert Burns and his

wife RuthAnn, who is a trip coordinator for Plasticos.

“We have been long-time patrons of the gallery,” RuthAnn Burns

said. “And when we asked them if they would help us with the benefit,

they offered this generous suggestion.”

The benefit is sponsored almost entirely by Lahaina Galleries, she

said.

A majority of the other patients operated on in Ecuador have

recovered very well, said Cucurny, who heard from the group’s contact

in Macas, Juan Leon, a doctor and an official with the Ecuadorean

Ministry of Health.

Patients with fused fingers and toes have regained function of

their hands and legs, and a man who could not make a fist because of

a machete injury, can bend his fingers and use his hand again,

Cucurny said.

It is amazing how patients in Third World nations do remarkably

well despite poor post-operative care, Nichter said. “In any surgery,

there’s a potential risk of infection,” Nichter said. “I’m amazed at

how well these patients do for the most part.”

He said it was probably because they took antibiotics as a

precautionary measure or maybe because the patients were kept in the

hospital longer than they were required to be there, just to make

certain of no infection.

This weekend’s fundraiser is vital for the group to continue its

mission effectively, Nichter said. Busy schedules and zero overhead

have made fundraising almost an impossible task for Plasticos.

“We don’t have administrative costs, all the money we raise goes

toward the trips and the surgeries,” he said. “We’ll go to zero

budget after our Guatemala trip in November, and the trip to India is

being sponsored for the most part by one person.”

The foundation money pays airfare for the doctors and nurses, who

take time off their practices and employment and use vacation time to

go on these trips, Nichter said.

“Sometimes, when we can’t pay for all tickets, the doctors end up

paying the difference,” he said.

The fundraiser will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 5:30

to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Lahaina Galleries in Fashion Island in

Newport Beach. Artist Luongo will sign posters on Saturday only from

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, call (949) 721-9117.