Help Us Bring Life-Changing Surgery to Guatemala

This September, we’re crossing borders not simply to perform surgery, but to serve a community that has cared for people in need for generations.

From September 20–25, 2026, a team of 18 medical volunteers from the United States—including plastic surgeons, urologist, breast surgeon, ENT surgeon, oncology surgeon, general surgeons nurse anesthetists, registered nurses, and surgical technologists—will travel to Hospital Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro in Antigua, Guatemala.

The hospital has a long history of caring for Guatemala’s most vulnerable communities, inspired by the legacy of Hermano Pedro, a Franciscan who dedicated his life to serving the poor and sick. That spirit of compassion continues today.

During our mission, we will provide free surgical care to patients who have traveled long distances and waited months, sometimes years, for treatment.

For a child born with a cleft lip, cleft palate, or other deformity, surgery can mean a smile, a chance to speak more clearly, and growing up with greater confidence and hope.
For patients with large goiters or urologic conditions such as enlarged prostate or prolapse, surgery can bring relief, comfort, dignity, and a better quality of life.
And for those facing breast cancer and other cancers, access to surgery can mean something even more precious—the possibility of more time with the people they love, more birthdays, family moments, and memories together.

For every patient, young or old, we hope to offer more than surgery. We hope to bring relief, dignity, and the possibility of a healthier and more hopeful future with their families.

We are raising $50,000 to help provide the surgical supplies, medications, and medical equipment needed for this mission.

Every donation, no matter the size, helps us reach someone who has been waiting—and reminds them that they are not forgotten. We are deeply grateful for your support. If you cannot donate, sharing our campaign with your family and friends is just as meaningful.

Thank you for helping us cross borders, build community, and bring hope to the people of Guatemala.

Together, we can change lives—one patient, one surgery, one community at a time.

With gratitude,

Attasit Chokechanachaisakul, MD
Team Leader, Team Michigan | Operation International

More About Team Michigan:

Team Michigan, first launched in 2013 by Dr. Mehul Mehta, has been on six missions with Operation International to Kenya, Ghana, Ecuador and Uganda. The team was taken over by a new leader, Dr. Attasit Chokechanachaisakul, a surgical oncologist from Michigan, in 2024 when Dr. Mehta retired from volunteering. In 2024, the team completed a very successful mission in Uganda, performing 94 of these life-changing surgeries in a short period of time and finished a similarly successful mission in Ghana in 2025. Click here to learn more.

More About Operation International:

Operation International is a secular, non-political, humanitarian organization founded in 1996 by Medhat Allam, MD; Ravi Kothuru, MD; and Robert Mineo, CRNA under the original name of International Surgical Mission Support. The founders aspired to offer free medical care to children and adults suffering from the lack of basic health care in poor countries.

In our quest to advance human rights ideas, Operation International provides free medical care to people in need — regardless of gender, cultural, ethnic, political, or religious affiliations. To ensure that our efforts impact underserved communities for years to come, we also offer education and training to local health care workers during each of our medical missions, as well as improve hospitals’ infrastructure through equipment donations.

Team NY, the first Operation International team, made its maiden mission to Haiti in 1997, where the founders of the organization witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of poverty and inadequate medical care.

Since the beginning, our teams of doctors, clinicians, nurses, and aides have expanded to include over 200 medical professionals in multiple Chapters located throughout the United States, the UK, and Hong Kong.

In our many medical missions to date, we have directly impacted the lives of thousands of people by performing life-saving and life-changing surgeries, including cancer surgeries, sight restoration surgeries, burn reconstructive surgeries, corrective surgeries for congenital anomalies such as clubfoot and cleft palate, and obstetric and gynecological surgeries.

Healing Hands Across Borders: Bringing Hope to Guatemala

Help Operation International's Team Michigan bring free surgical care to Guatemala

Team Members