Danna is a courageous 16-year-old girl from Ecuador. In 2004, when Danna was just 3 months old her family came across Mending Kids and applied for surgical care in hopes of mending Danna’s heart. Danna and her family traveled to the US, where she was treated at UCLA for several months and underwent multiple surgeries. After a lengthy hospital stay filled with ups and downs Danna finally recovered. Now a healthy young girl, Danna and her family moved to New York. She now attends New Dorp High School and has hopes of becoming a neonatologist or a pediatric surgeon because “it has always been my wish to give back a little of the help I received when I needed it.” We honor Danna this year for her bravery, her story, and her future.
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Nick Simmons is a writer, musician/musical director and television personality best known for appearing on the television show Gene Simmons Family Jewels with his family on A&E for its seven season run. He has written articles for Vice, Elite Daily, Esquire, and the Huffington Post.
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Dr. Andre Panossian is an internationally recognized board-certified plastic surgeon specializing in craniofacial surgery, facial paralysis, and reconstructive surgery for the face, breast, and body. Dr. Panossian is additionally one of three top surgical experts in the United States who treats a rare condition called neurofibromatosis. A volunteer surgeon with Mending Kids for over 10 years and member of the Board of Directors, he initiated Mending Kids' first surgical mission to Armenia in 2015 -- what started as a solo effort to treat underserved pediatric patients in his cultural homeland soon expanded to become a fully-staffed, annual weeklong pilgrimage to provide surgeries as well as instructionals for medical students and doctors in the capital city of Yerevan.
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