A Miami foundation has announced a campaign to pay for genitalia reconstruction for a Peruvian teen who was shot in the groin.
Jackson Memorial Foundation's International Kids Wonderfund wants to raise $50,000 for surgery for 17-year-old Luis Canelos.
When Canelos was just nine, he suffered a gunshot wound to his groin that destroyed nearly all of his genitalia except for a portion of his right testicle. Canelos' father, Roger Canelos, said neither he nor the boy's mother were present when he was playing with a shotgun which blew off his genitalia.
Now the teen will undergo a surgery that will require a two-team approach and will consist of forearm grafting and placing a cadaveric fibula bone. The surgery, scheduled for Aug. 2, could last 24 hours.
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The surgery is similar to the procedure used for female to male sexual reassignment. Surgeons at Jackson perform half a dozen of the reconstructions each year.
Because Canelos still has a portion of his testicle, doctors are hopeful he will be able to father a child in the future and if the surgery is successful, he could be a candidate for a penile implant to restore his sexual function.
Canelos doesn't have medical insurance and his family can't afford the surgery. Taxpayer money can't be used for his procedure because Canelos isn't a U.S. resident.
To contribute to the fund visit www.wonderfund.org or call 1-877-IKF-KIDS.
