A Stitch in Time Saves More Than Nine

THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF A CLEFT PALATE SURGEON LEAVES BEHIND A TRAIL OF STUFFED LLAMAS

Joshua Demke, MD, (Medicine ’03) is searching for the smile. The look that transforms a child’s face from sadness to joy — a transformation he brings through missionary work and stuffed llamas.

As surgical director for the cleft palate team at TTUHSC, Demke has always enjoyed helping others and giving back to his community. He founded the nonprofit, Cupcakes for Clefts, which hosts fundraisers throughout the year and uses the money raised to buy stuffed llamas for one of the organizations programs, Llamas for Lips.

However, these stuffed llamas are not ordinary. Each llama is given a stitch on their lip to match the stitches that a child might have after cleft lip or palate surgery. The llamas were such a big hit with the children overseas, that Demke also passes them out to his patients in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.