Q&A with Dr. Jack Langer on the Herbie Fund

Dr. Jack Langer has operated on about 30 children from around the world in his 12 years working with the Herbie Fund. The charity’s 2006 Doctor of the Year, he has helped separate conjoined twins from Zimbabwe, rebuild the esophagus of a boy from Sierra Leone who swallowed toilet cleaner, and treat many others with birth defects. Dr. Langer was in an airport lounge en route to the American Pediatric Surgical Association conference in Palm Desert, Calif., when he talked to CityNews.ca about the value of the Herbie Fund.

How did you get involved with the Herbie Fund?

When I was recruited back to Toronto back in 1999 to be the chief of general surgery, Dr. Robert Filler told me about it. The people in the international patient office asked me if I would be willing to take care of some of the Herbie patients and, of course, I was quite happy to do that. One thing led to another and I got very involved.

What’s your role with the Herbie Fund?

I’m one of the surgeons who takes care of the patients brought in by the Herbie Fund. I review potential applications. If they’re appropriate, I take care of them myself or ask one of my colleagues. There tend to be some regulars, particularly surgeons who have skills that are commonly needed.

What kind of skills are in demand?

The child has to have a problem that can be fixed in one visit or one operation – birth defects, heart defects, malformations – so that the child can go back, and people in the home country can manage things.

Can you tell us about the operation to separate Tinashe and Tinotenda, the conjoined twins from Zimbabwe?

That was one of our home runs. They were joined at the abdomen. One of the obstetrics residents from the University of Toronto training program was in Zimbabwe doing some research and was involved in the delivery of these twins. It became very clear that there was no way they would survive if they stayed in Zimbabwe.

They came to Toronto and we separated them successfully. They stayed for (about eight months) and then went back to Zimbabwe. How old would they be now? Six years old – and they’re wonderful. We get pictures from time to time and they’re perfectly normal kids now. So, that was a great Herbie Fund success story.

We know you’re busy, so thanks for talking to us.

Anything you can do to get the word out about the Herbie Fund would be wonderful because it really is an excellent fund.

It’s not only about the children who come here to get treated. When we take care of these kids, we’re also teaching the trainees in our hospital how to take care of these complicated problems. Many of our trainees come from international locations, and our hope is we can send them back to the places they’ve come from and for them to go on to train other people. The goal of the Herbie Fund should be to teach enough people around the world so we don’t need the fund anymore.