Anna, a young girl from Lviv, Ukraine, lost the left side of her lower jaw to a tumor as a child. It was replaced with a metal plate at the time due to the lack of resources available for full surgery, but that was only a temporary solution. As she got older, the plate began to fail, causing her discomfort and putting her health at risk.
In September 2022, Dr. Christina Pohranychna, Anna’s surgeon in Ukraine, presented Anna’s case to the nonprofit organization LEAP Global Missions. It was clear that Anna needed a free fibula microvascular transfer, a procedure that couldn’t be done in Ukraine. To receive the care she needed, Anna and her father traveled to Dallas in April 2023 for a complex jaw reconstruction surgery.
The surgery was a huge success, giving Anna a new lease on life. “Once she knew she was being discharged, she grabbed her tennis shoes, put them on, and was trying to walk out of the room,” recalled Dawna Landry, LEAP’s Director of Missions, who picked Anna up from the hospital. “You couldn’t wipe the smiles off Anna and her father’s faces. The joy in that room was palpable.”
LEAP Global Missions is a faith-based organization dedicated to enhancing and enriching the lives of people around the world by providing free specialized medical and surgical services. The organization sends teams of highly skilled medical professionals to other countries to provide care in a variety of specialties, including craniofacial, oculoplastic and ophthalmological, orthodontic and dental, Mohs skin cancer diagnosis and treatment, and ENT. They also bring children with complex craniofacial conditions to the U.S. for surgical care if the care they need is too complicated to be performed in their home country. To date, LEAP has provided over 10,000 free surgeries and procedures to people from 24 countries.
Partnership with CAF Canada
Thanks to CAF Canada’s donors, a large amount of funding has gone to LEAP Global Missions and supported the continuation of providing free specialized surgical and medical care for children with craniofacial conditions and other medical needs in multiple countries, including India, Belize, Mexico, Zimbabwe, and Ukraine. This care includes ear reconstruction surgeries, craniofacial surgeries, Mohs skin cancer treatment, and dental care, and is based on the needs of the communities they serve.
CAF Canada funds support three impactful initiatives by LEAP Global Missions: the Cheryl Lamon Memorial Fund, Mary’s Gift, and the Mission Program.
CHERYL LAMON MEMORIAL FUND
This program supports two critical initiatives. It provides funding for Casa Josefina, an orphanage in Cusco, Peru, and its medical clinic, La Fuente Centro de Salud Integral, ensuring ongoing care for children in the region. Secondly, it covers travel and surgical expenses for patients from countries like Belize, India, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe, allowing them to receive complex craniofacial surgeries in the United States. Seven people have received this life-changing care so far.
MARY’S GIFT
The Mary’s Gift program delivers comprehensive care to children in Belize with cleft lip and/or palate. This program offers a range of support, including feeding instructions for newborns, surgical preparation and intervention, education on speech and hearing development, and dental care. Additionally, Mary’s Gift organizes training seminars for medical professionals in Belize. In 2022, the first lecture series attracted 40 Belizean medical professionals, both in person and via Zoom.
MISSION PROGRAM
Since the organization was founded 1991, LEAP has deployed teams of volunteer medical professionals on surgical missions worldwide. Currently, their mission outreach spans Belize, Mexico, Zimbabwe, and Ukraine, treating an average of 250-300 patients annually.
LEAP has exciting plans for missions to Zimbabwe, Belize, Mexico, and Ukraine in 2025. By supporting LEAP, CAF Canada’s donors provide life-changing care to hundreds of people around the world, offering them a new chance at life. Their generosity makes this vital work possible.

Learn More
Discover the great work done by organizations we support by viewing our other Stories of Impact.
Learn more about LEAP Global Mission’s work here.