By Tim Saunders on
Last week brought news of Jackie Chan's participation in a charity event in Vietnam for Operation Smile. Now we’ve learned that he assisted in an actual Operation Smile surgery at the Vietnam-Cuba Hospital in Hanoi.
The star is an ambassador for Operation Smile, an organization that helps children with cleft palates and other deformities.
Chan spent an hour helping with the surgery, and said he felt as tired as though he’d done martial arts for an extended period of time. The surgery was carried out on Quy Thien Tran, a 6-month-old boy with a primary cleft. Vietnamese singer My Tam and model Hi Anh also observed the surgery.
According to an Operation Smile spokesperson: “When the surgery was over, team members said there was barely a dry eye in the house as Chan carried the child back to his mother. Chan said the next morning that he couldn’t sleep and was awake until 3 a.m. emailing his friends about how much the experience of helping change a child’s life had impacted him.”
The star also talked about his fear of needles, and he had to turn away every time an injection was given to the patient!
The star is currently visiting Asian countries on a mission of charity, and has been raising awareness of his Dragon's Heart Charity in China and visiting Typhoon victims in Taiwan.
During the weekend, Chan visited the Singapore Tongji Hospital and became a Goodwill Ambassador. This week he heads to Thailand and Cambodia to be a keynote speaker at the International Peace Foundation’s “Bridges: Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace.”
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