Exactly 20 years ago, he won the hearts of a British soldier and countless English TV viewers; today the impact of the little boy from Bosnia, Stefan Savic, is still deeply felt.
Stefan was born with an extremely rare, severe facial cleft that threatened his life and prevented him from having a childhood. He would undergo a transformational surgery thanks to his benefactor from Dorset.
Now, 20 years have passed.
Today, Stefan is a talented 24-year-old young man who plays the piano and is engaged. The man so instrumental in changing his life, retired British soldier Wayne Ingram, 54, has kept in touch with Stefan all these years through Facebook and WhatsApp. “He’s a good-looking, strong man,” Mr. Ingram told The Epoch Times after receiving recent photos from his Bosnian friend. “His girlfriend—or fiancée—is beautiful.”
Several smaller surgeries followed the main operation that had been so pivotal in changing Stefan’s life two decades ago. His final procedure in 2016 completed his nasal structure.
Now “he’s living an amazing life in Bosnia,” Mr. Ingram said, admitting he will never forget how Stefan transformed him, too. “Stefan saved my life because I was the stereotypical military person, you know: ‘You guys just go to war,’ and I would go to war,” he said. “Stefan’s courage made me realize that I can do more. … He’s made me a better person.”
Their pivotal first meeting was in March 2003, during a mission to win the hearts and minds of local Bosnians. Mr. Ingram saw a photo of Stefan during a routine patrol and was devastated. “As a father, you never want to see any harm come to your children,” he told the newspaper. “To see this young boy who was severely disfigured fight—it just broke my heart.”
Mr. Ingram wanted to help Stefan. His father, Milos Savic, said surgery was his son’s only hope for a childhood. He feared he would be harshly teased and develop a complex after he started school the next year. What Mr. Ingram didn’t know but later learned was that Stefan’s facial cleft would have eventually killed him.
Yet an operation would cost tens of thousands of euros. Seeing such courage in young Stefan, Mr. Ingram said he would do all he could. “I could never promise them that I would be able to help them. I had to get permission from the British army,” he told The Epoch Times.
He wrote dozens of letters and emails, until eventually surgeon David Dunaway, from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, heard their plea. Mr. Dunaway replied that he would try to help Stefan, free of charge. “It wouldn’t have happened without him,” Mr. Ingram said. “He’s an amazing person.”
Later that year, the family was brought to London where CT scans of Stefan’s skull were taken and Mr. Dunaway determined that “major” surgery was possible. There was yet hope for Stefan.
His skull would have to be deconstructed by removing a block of bone from his frontal skull while protecting the boy’s delicate brain, which had to be lifted out of the way.
They needed to adjust Stefan’s eye orbits which were too far apart and had to be moved closer together.
A bone graft from his upper skull would complete the bridge of Stefan’s then-nonexistent nose bone.
All this would be held together by metal plates and screws.
It would take a marathon surgery of 12 hours. Both Mr. Ingram and the Savics were told that he might die or become blind from the procedure. This made Mr. Ingram question whether he had done the right thing in getting involved.
Slavenka Savic, Stefan’s mom, said she once tried to imagine how Stefan would look without his defect but couldn’t picture it. “Like any mother who loves any child, he was so beautiful to me before the operation,” she told BFBS right after the surgery, adding that she is now the “happiest mother on the face of the Earth.” “Now he’s perfect.”
His father expressed that the results speak for themselves.
Afterward, Mr. Ingram felt a tremendous weight lifted off his heart. The soldier couldn’t be with the family during Stefan’s 12-hour procedure as the emotional burden was too great. “I would have broken down at some point,” he told The Epoch Times. “What would happen if Stefan died or was blind?”
Including his crucial first surgery in 2003, and one pre-op to remove several front teeth, Stefan has had five procedures. The others were in his teen years, ending with the completion of his nose in 2016.
In all, fundraising drew in some 160,000 pounds (approx. US$195,000), thanks to generous public donations, Mr. Ingram said. Initially, the adorable 4-year-old had aired on major networks across the UK and as far away as America, melting hearts while bringing in cash. Raising money was more difficult as Stefan aged, yet Mr. Ingram promised to make it happen and honored his word.
That little boy from Bosnia had changed Mr. Ingram as a person. “Stefan showed me,” Mr. Ingram said. “He made me realize that we can all go through life just looking at things but not seeing things.”
Now a second family to Mr. Ingram, the Savics at one time went unnoticed, all their friendship, their love. Until Stefan showed him. Mr. Ingram saw he could help those worse off than himself, he said. “And I will continue to do that for the rest of my life.”
