Hector's new outlook

Hector Gomez has perfect vision today, thanks to concerned doctors in Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

Dr. Ramiro Icaza is a general practitioner in Jackson who makes medical mission trips to Nicaragua, his homeland. While in Nicaragua last month, Icaza was approached by Eric Gomez, who asked if Icaza could do something about his son's crossed eyes, known as strabismus. Upon returning to the U.S. Icaza asked Dr. Marybeth Kapp, a Cape Girardeau pediatric ophthalmologist, for help. Kapp is the only doctor between St. Louis and Memphis who is board certified to do the corrective surgery Hector needed.

This month, arrangements were made to fly Hector and his father to Cape Girardeau, where Kapp did the 45-minute surgery at facilities offered by Physicians Alliance Surgery Center in Cape Girardeau, which also provided an anesthetist.

It is cooperative efforts like this that make us proud of the generosity of our doctors. It also makes us proud to have such highly qualified medical experts as friends and neighbors.

We are sure Hector and Eric Gomez have already said it many times, but it bears repeating: Thank you to everyone who had a hand in this wonderful medical mission.