A Miami foundation has announced a campaign to pay for genitalia reconstruction for a Peruvian teen who was shot in the groin.
Jackson Memorial Foundation's International Kids Wonderfund wants to raise $50,000 for surgery for 17-year-old Luis Canelos.
When Canelos was just nine, he suffered a gunshot wound to his groin that destroyed nearly all of his genitalia except for a portion of his right testicle. Canelos' father, Roger Canelos, said neither he nor the boy's mother were present when he was playing with a shotgun which blew off his genitalia.
Now the teen will undergo a surgery that will require a two-team approach and will consist of forearm grafting and placing a cadaveric fibula bone. The surgery, scheduled for Aug. 2, could last 24 hours.
The surgery is similar to the procedure used for female to male sexual reassignment. Surgeons at Jackson perform half a dozen of the reconstructions each year.
Because Canelos still has a portion of his testicle, doctors are hopeful he will be able to father a child in the future and if the surgery is successful, he could be a candidate for a penile implant to restore his sexual function.
Canelos doesn't have medical insurance and his family can't afford the surgery. Taxpayer money can't be used for his procedure because Canelos isn't a U.S. resident.
To contribute to the fund visit www.wonderfund.org or call 1-877-IKF-KIDS.
For more local news go to WTVJ, NBC Miami
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