Doctors give African pastor new 'face'

BANGALORE: Simon Basedeke, a pastor from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a second god now. He renewed his faith in miracles when Dr Sunil Vasudev, a maxillofacial surgeon in Bangalore's Fortis Hospital,reconstructed his mauled face and restored his speech.
Simon, 70, suffered injuries when a gang of bandits raided his house on September 2 at Bukavu city, Congo.One of them shot at Simon point-blank on the face. The bullet entered his right upper jaw, cut his tongue into two and exited his left lower jaw, blowing to smithereens the jaws and joints. His tongue was stitched to the bottom of his mouth; he had the pieces of broken bones inside when he came to Fortis, Bannerghatta Road, on October 2.
Simon's son-in-law Ceaser Hanuli, who is doing his masters in pharmacy in Bangalore, brought him to the city. "He had no money to travel to India and undergo the surgery. The entire family contributed. Dr Vasudev and his team in Fortis took care of the rest," Ceaser pointed out.
Dr Vasudev reconstructed Simon's jaw by taking a small portion of the Iliac bone. "We had to cut open his face without damaging the main chord of the facial nerve... As he is diabetic, has hypertension and kidney problems, the chances of getting an infection was high. Now, he can speak partially," Dr Vasudev told TOI.
The procedure cost about Rs 5 lakh. A relieved Simon is now hoping to return to his hometown soon.