Long Island Boy Gets To Thank Surgeons After Difficult Surgery

After undergoing reconstructive face surgery, 9-year-old Simao Meco got to return to the hospital to thank the doctors who performed the difficult procedure.

Meco recently returned to Cohen Children's Hospital with his mother, Lisa, and sister, Maria, to thank the two surgeons who performed a complex, six-hour surgery that succeeded in correcting the rare Tessier craniofacial clefts with which he was born.

Dr. James Bradley, Meco's facial reconstruction surgeon, is one of only five surgeons in the world with the training to perform this complicated procedure, the hospital said.

“Simao was born with Tessier craniofacial clefts, which means that parts of his face and skull were abnormally separated,” Bradley said. “Because of these deformities, Simao was unable to breathe and always felt that he was suffering with a bad cold. He was constantly at risk of infection, and was unable to see well because one eye pointed off to the side.”

Bradley worked with Dr. Mark Mittler, co-chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Cohen, who helped getting to the skull.

“My part of this was to provide Dr. Bradley with access to the skull. Once we were able to achieve access, Dr. Bradley was able to take the necessary steps to re-align Simao’s face," Mittler said.

Bradley said as soon as he saw Meco, he knew he would have to operate. During the surgery, which was performed on a pro-bono basis at Cohen on January 8th, Dr. Bradley repositioned the affected eye to point in the proper direction; adjusted the sinus cavities, which were overgrown between Simao’s eyes, thus negatively affecting his breathing; and modified the structure of his nose.

“I’m happy to report that Simao is healing so well that he will be returning to school tomorrow,” Dr. Bradley told a room filled with well-wishers at Cohen Children’s.

Photo: Northwell