A soldier who spotted a boy with a terrible deformity while on patrol in Bosnia has spent ten years fundraising to finally deliver his promise of giving him a new face.
Former Staff Sergeant Wayne Ingram, 44, met four-year-old Stefan Savic a decade ago while on peacekeeping duties in Eastern Europe.
Stefan was born with a debilitating condition called Tessier facial cleft, which meant his eyes were 4.5cm further apart than normal and he had no proper nose.
Former Staff Sergeant Wayne Ingram has raised more than £100,000 to pay for a Bosnian boy, Stefan Savic, to have surgery at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London
But father-of-two Mr Ingram, formerly of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, was so moved by Stefan’s plight he vowed to get him state-of-the-art medical help.
He collected an amazing £85,000 with a fundraising drive across Bosnia and the UK before bringing Stefan to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2003.
The youngster underwent 12 hours of surgery with plastic surgeon David Dunaway, who cut his face in half before moving his eyes closer together and building him a nose.
The operation was a success but Mr Dunaway warned that a second operation would be needed a decade later.
Mr Ingram kept in touch with Stefan and his parents Slavenka, 36, and Milos, 44, raising a further £20,000 to bring him back to the UK to finish his treatment.
Stefan, now 14, returned to Great Ormond Street this week for his second operation with Mr Dunaway to improve his face and help his breathing.
When Mr Ingram first met Stefan a decade ago he promised to help raise the money for him to have the surgery he needed on the facial deformity he was born with. Stefan has now had the treatment (pictured)
Mr Ingram, from Weymouth, Dorset, said he was just happy to complete the remarkable job of helping Stefan lead the life of a normal little boy.
He said: ‘I was on a routine patrol in Bosnia when I was introduced to his father and went to meet Stefan.
‘The condition had been left untreated and had grown between Stefan’s eyes, crushing his skull, forcing his eyes apart to the point he couldn’t see what was ahead of him.
WHAT IS TESSIER FACIAL CLEFT?
A facial cleft is an opening or gap in the face, or a malformation of part of the face.
It occurs when separate areas of the face do not join together properly when a baby is developing in the womb.
There are many different types of clefts, one group of which are called Tessier clefts.
These are clefts affecting the centre of the face.
The clefts are very rare and most children with them need multiple operations to help them breathe and eat.
‘But aside from the facial deformities he was just a normal, playful little boy. He was confident and cheeky, climbing all over me as we played football in the yard.
‘He was too young then to be self-aware. But his facial cleft was blocking his airways and without medical attention, could kill him.
‘I had two young sons myself at the time and there was no way I could stand back and do nothing. I knew in an instant I had to do everything I could to help.’
As Mr Ingram set about raising funds, he wrote to a long list of celebrities.
Only David Beckham replied, politely explaining he had already chosen his charities for that year.
Mr Dunaway, the surgeon, was offering his services for free but Mr Ingram still needed to pay for flights, accommodation for the family, as well as essential hospital costs.
He raised 6,000 Euros by staging a charity football match in Banja Luka, with Muslim, Serb and Croat players setting aside their conflicts to help Stefan.
And back in the UK, Mr Ingram launched a massive fundraising drive, persuading his local Asda to put collection boxes beside their tills.
He said: ‘Donations poured in and I was bowled over by the generosity.
‘Stefan needed three operations back then – one to remove his teeth, another to reconstruct his nose and another to reconstruct his skull.
Thanks to Mr Ingram, Stefan has had a series of operations and procedures at Great Ormond Street. The pair are pictured during one of Stefan’s previous trips to London for treatment
