Kathleen Meyer

Imagine this: You are overseas in a foreign country and a 16 year old boy comes up to you. He has a serious cleft lip and palate. You know this is during a revolution in this country and that anyone who has a defect, even glasses, will be killed. He has been hiding in the mountains until the doctors came. The 16 year old asks to have you fix the cleft lip. You then ask the cleft lip and palate doctors to fix it, but they say it can't be done. Then you decide to fix it yourself in a bamboo hospital, as the first cleft lip surgery that you have ever done. Well, that's exactly what Dr. Kathleen Meyer did. She is an extraordinary person.

St. Joseph's Hospital (http://www.ministryhealth.org/ SJH/home.nws)

Dr. Meyer has worked on a lot of patients. At least 100-200 patients per week. She has been working for a total of 15 years. She has had about 1500-3000 patients in those 15 years. But it took a lot of schooling to get all of those patients. She was at the College for 4 years, medical school for 4 years, 5 years in general surgery, 2 years in plastic/ reconstructive surgery, and 1 year in hand surgery. That's a total of 16 years. That shows her dedication to become something that women didn't do because when she went to school, everyone looked down on her for trying to do something as challenging as a plastic/reconstructive/hand surgeon.

This is Dr. Meyer (http://www.marshfieldclinic.org/ proxy/MCProvImg-34519.1.jpg)

I think Dr. Meyer is a great hero. She has done something that women didn’t normally do when she went to school. She said that she really enjoys the challenge that comes with the surgery. She also says that she isn’t afraid of the surgery, but is afraid of the possibility of a bad outcome. She says that that fear should be in all surgeons. She actually likes the surgery prospect of her work. “That is what keeps me going,” she says.

Dr. Meyer is a good hero. She really inspires me to help people out in any way I can. She says that in the future, she is just going to keep helping out people no matter how tough the economy is. She really is inspiring me to be a better person. I want to help out in little ways, because I could never do something as big as she has done. She doesn’t think of herself as a hero, but I think she is a great hero.

Dr. Meyer is a great hero. She has done magnificent things, from the little things like removing moles to fixing up someone’s cleft lip. She has inspired me to do good things for other people. She is such a good person, and she has affected so many lives, including mine, with just her work. She is a wonderful person and she is my hero.