Surgical service for children inspired by ‘Boy David’

CHILDREN across Scotland with facial deformities will be treated at a new national service that follows on from the inspiring story of ‘The Boy David’.

Peruvian toddler David Lopez captured the nation’s heart when he was brought to Glasgow for life-changing surgery in the 1970s and adopted by the surgeon who treated him.

The two-year-old had been abandoned by his family due to a facial disfigurement that left him without a nose or upper jaw. Glasgow

surgeon Professor Ian Jackson, pictured with David, operated on him more than 100 times and went on to adopt him.

Now, after more than 40 years, the surgical expertise in Glasgow developed over the decades has been recognised and been commissioned by NHS National Services Scotland to provide a national service for children and young people with facial deformities. It will be hosted at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children and is expected to provide care for more than 220 people a year. David Koppel, clinical lead for the new service and clinical director of surgery in the Royal Hospital for Children, said: ‘Surgery of this kind is literally life-changing for these children; transformational even.’

A dedicated team in Glasgow will see and treat patients affected by one or more craniofacial deformities, from water on the brain to complex malignant tumours.

Professor Jackson, who died earlier this month, adopted David after his family abandoned him in the Peruvian Amazon.

Now 45, David lives in Detroit, has a girlfriend and works in graphic design.