FORMER Miss Scotland Nicola Wood and her husband Garreth started charity Kids Operating Room five years ago, in the wake of a personal tragedy.
But since then the organisation, which builds surgical theatres in developing countries, has helped fund 110,000 life-saving ops.
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Scottish Sun reporter STUART PATTERSON and photographer Andy Barr headed out to Zambia with Kids OR, to see how the charity is changing lives for patients, parents and medics.
Here, in day one of a special series, Nicola meets a mega fan – a doctor who fulfilled her dream of becoming a surgeon thanks to the charity.
AS a former Miss Scotland and telly presenter, Nicola Wood is no stranger to being in the spotlight and posing for selfies.
But since co-founding a pioneering children’s charity, she has built up a new set of fans.
Now Nicola is more likely to be approached by someone because of the dramatic impact Kids Operating Room has had on their life.
This includes Dr Martha Mukonka, who achieved her dream of becoming a surgeon thanks to the charity.
When Nicola visited her hospital, Martha made sure she got a memento of their meeting, as well as a big cuddle.
Nicola, 42, of East Lothian, said: “It’s a lot more satisfying to get asked for selfies now.
“I’ll never take anything away from how I started my career. It gave me some great opportunities and there are a lot of fantastic memories from that.
“But to start something of our own and for people to feel that we are doing something so significant is humbling. It’s so generous of them to want to hug me and get pictures with me.”
Nicola, originally from Inverbervie, Angus, became Miss Scotland and then Miss UK in 2003 and competed in the Miss World contest.
The GP’s daughter married Garreth, son of oil billionaire Sir Ian Wood and the couple have daughters Ezra, 12, and Coren, seven.
But their world was turned upside down when their triplet daughters Asha, Oren and Willow died in 2013 after being born prematurely.
They became determined to stop other parents having to go through a similar ordeal.
After funding an operating theatre in Uganda, Garreth, 45, decided to sell his pub business and used the cash to launch Kids Operating Room with Nicola in 2018.
She said: “There is obviously a real emotional attachment for us.
“Having gone through loss ourselves we want to help other parents and protect them from that trauma, heartbreak and loss.
“Before Garreth and I started Kids Operating Room we never appreciated how long children waited for surgery. That was a really harsh wake-up call.
“Children shouldn’t have to compromise on safety when it comes to an operation just because of where they were born.”
Kids Operating Room is the only charity that builds state-of-the-art operating theatres especially for children in areas where there is a desperate need.
They work with politicians and medical teams to find out exactly what they require then create the facility at an existing hospital.
Everything from cutting-edge medical equipment and tools to bright stickers for the walls is shipped from the charity’s warehouse in Dundee.
A team flies over to install everything and ensure the local medical team has all they need. In most cases surgeries start the day after set-up.
They now ship two a month and more than 80 will be up and running in 28 countries by the end of the year.
A child is operated on in a KidsOR facility every 12 minutes and the organisation has saved and changed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Their biggest investment is in Zambia where they have committed to ten theatres, with eight already running. Waiting lists are plummeting.
Nicola flew over to see the impact the charity is having, and watched as tiny babies were worked on and expected to make a full recovery — before KidsOR they would most likely have died on the table.
She said: “Zambia is just amazing. The surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses are so full of joy at the operating rooms, which is so nice.
“I saw first-hand the children and the families that are getting impacted by the theatres.
“There is a real transformation from what they were like before we came. It’s a staggering contrast. It’s a really proud moment for me to see that.”
However, there are still massive hurdles facing the medical teams every day. Nicola is determined to keep trying to make a difference and urged others to help.
She said: “Our model works. The only limiting factor for us is funds.
“For £75 you can save a child’s life. That’s what an operation costs. Our dream is to have a world where every child has access to safe surgery.
At University Teaching Hospital in Zambia’s capital city Lusaka, Dr Mukonka said she would have struggled to afford the £409 to pay for her final exams, and the costs of travelling to Namibia for them, if not for funding from the charity.
Mum-of-three Dr Mukonka, 36, said of Nicola: “I was so excited to see her. I couldn’t let her go without getting a picture and giving her a hug.
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“I always wanted to be a paediatric surgeon. There’s nothing else I wanted to do. Without Nicola and Kids Operating Room it would have taken me a lot longer to graduate. They really are making a huge difference.”
HELP AT HAND
AT the Kids Operating Room warehouse in Dundee, the theatres are built and shipped to their destination.
Global operations director Dave Tipping, below, jumped into action when he was told of the dire need for tools to remove items stuck in kids’ throats in Zambia.
Youngsters are dying every day because docs are forced to use adult equipment for the job.
He got experts at Yale University to create a unique bit of kit and got Nicola to drop it off when she visited.
Nicola also helped unload Zambia’s latest operating room – the first theatre for kids at Livingstone General since it opened about 100 years ago.
Currently, the hospital sends kids who need specialist treatment to Lusaka, up to a 12-hour drive away, at a cost of about £410 each time. A nurse is paid roughly £246 a month.
Surgeons are so excited that they have staked a claim on who will get to work in the new space.
Dr Mutuna Chiewla, 42, got the prize. He said: “It’s huge for us. We have our own waiting list and I’m going to be the first person to operate in there.
Medics said they’ve had to struggle for too long due to a lack of funds and the proper tools for the job, especially when it comes to youngsters.
Dr Kaseya Chiyeu, senior medical superintendent at the hospital, said: “We squeeze children into the adult’s world. Everything is geared for the adults.
“This brings a spotlight on to children’s health and hopefully it will raise awareness.”
– To find out more and support Kids Operating Room see kidsor.org
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