Check-in crew- Pauline Hess, Pablo Ortega, Molly Anderson, Julie Anderson, Corrine Clayton, Sharron Whiteley, and Talon Enochs .

Long-time volunteers-Trina Ingalls, Dr. Bryan Chan, Bert Fuller PA, Lisa Fujimoto PA, Cecil Reyes PA, Ana Vasquez, Dr. William Long, Dr. Maxine Anderson, Dr. Julio Raya, Dr. Kim Lee, and Dr. Andy Fishmann.

First-time attendees Laura and Jason Berns.

Paddle Raise to support our 2024 mission.

Our Annual Gala was a wonderful success thanks to our Benefactors, Donors, Volunteers, and Attendees who all made it an unforgettable event. We were able to raise over $220,000 to help us towards our goal of restoring mobility in 2024 to the people of the Philippines.

The evening was a time to reconnect with old friends and a chance to get to know some new ones. We love being able to reminisce about past trips, patients, and experiences while planning for the future. New faces mean new ideas, new energy, and a new drive towards our goals. Thank you so much to all who attended. We hope to see you back next year.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped to make our guests feel welcome and made sure the night went off without a hitch. We couldn’t hold events like our Annual Gala without your dedication. This year was a wonderful mix of long-time volunteers and students, all coming together for one purpose: help Operation Walk Los Angeles continue its mission of restoring mobility one surgery at a time. Thank you to the men and women who arrived early, stayed late, took wonderful care of our guests, and filled the event with a wonderful, positive vibe. You all are the best.

A special thank you to Director Emeritus, Jeri Ward, for organizing this year’s Gala and making sure every aspect of the evening went just right. We are lucky to be able to draw on her experience and expertise. 

We had a wonderful evening and raised funds for future missions, but our work doesn’t stop there. If you weren’t able to attend the Gala, would like to see more photos or like more information on how you can continue to support Operation Walk, please visit our website. Remember, every dollar raised goes toward our goal to restore mobility through joint replacement surgery to patients in need.

Let’s #knockoutarthritis in 2024!

Marilyn with Susan Flanagan

Marilyn speaking during the Gala

Marilyn during our Paddle Raise

Marilyn with her son Mike Dorr

Our 2023 Gala celebrating Marilyn Dorr and twenty-seven years of Operation Walk Los Angeles was a success. Our event was a beautiful tribute to Marilyn’s years of dedication and service to our organization.

We learned so much about Marilyn and how her life experiences shaped her into the philanthropist she is today. We were able to learn from her longtime friend, and Operation Walk Los Angeles Angel founding member, Susan Flanagan, about the path that led Marilyn to where she is today.

“Marilyn is a great daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, athlete, businesswoman, singer, hostess, and humanitarian. She is an intelligent and hard-working woman who is talented in so many ways. The first one there to help when someone is in need, Marilyn is fiercely loyal, the person you want in your corner and is kind and extremely generous. 

There is no better friend than Marilyn Dorr.”

We also heard from Marilyn on why this mission and Operation Walk is so important to both her personally and her family. She had many friends and family members in attendance and we loved hearing the stories they had to share. Marilyn concluded her speech with these words:

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see this audience here tonight; we are really grateful that you came to our event. We’ve always been blessed with an incredibly loyal base of supporters, and I am sure that many of you have never missed our Gala. Our mission would not be possible without you. We have many new attendees with us this evening, it is their first time attending our Gala. We need to continue to engage these young, enthusiastic people to help us carry the torch into the future.”

Thank you, Marilyn, for your guidance, vision, and continued dedication to Operation Walk and its mission to restore mobility.

Thoughts from Dr. William Long during our Annual Gala about our missions:

“To every one of you in attendance tonight, thank you. About three weeks before an event we panic. No one will come, the funding for our missions will dry up. We don’t have the advantage of a large endowment: we go on a mission, reach our goals, come home and raise money for the next trip. We’ve been successfully raising money and accomplishing our goals for the last twenty-seven years, so thank you all for attending.

I still believe that going on these missions is a trip of a lifetime. One of the most difficult trips, both financially and logistically is to travel to Africa. To travel to the other side of the world, you need to make your way to the East coast, with your cargo and then cross the entire continent and we were successful in achieving that goal.

We assembled an incredible team of volunteers that made it happen. We want to do this again, to make the impossible possible. Next year our trip is to the Philippines. Once again, a long way to travel but a necessary trip to restore mobility to those who need it most.”

Dr. William T. Long

Co-Medical Director

Operation Walk Los Angeles

Nelson Sauga, Tanzania 2023

It’s All About Family

“It is about family. My family. The family Sauga.”

Nelson Sauga is 68 years old and remains the cornerstone of his family. With seven sons and two daughters, he is the glue that holds the Sauga family together.

Nelson began to experience pain in his right knee in 2008. This pain increased to the intensity that it forced him to retire from his military career. He said that each step felt like a needle stabbing into his bone. Everyday tasks became a great labor. He was forced into retirement and felt like he was a captive in his own home. Unable to work, and visit friends and family, the isolation set in.

“My family is everything,” Nelson told me after his surgery. “They are the most important thing in my life. I can’t let them down. I have to keep moving, keep being a part of their lives, keep us together.”

Nelson was vibrant and a constant source of joy while in recovery. He encouraged his fellow patients, engaged with our volunteers, and let us know that he was going to recover and be better than ever.

“This is for my family, Family Sauga!” He had well over 15 family members waiting for him the day after surgery and he proudly walked past them to show that he was ready to regain both his mobility and his life.

Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren looked on as he made his way from his room out to the patio. Nelson gathered them around and we took a celebratory photo to commemorate his knee replacement surgery.

“I am the father, the grandfather, the great-grandfather,” he stated. I show the way. Nothing is impossible.”

We recently heard from Nelson and his recovery is going well. He’s back at home and had these words to share with us:

“Thank God, bless all of your team members for giving me this operation. My knee progress is good, and we look forward to seeing you again in Tanzania. We love you all.”

We are all better to have met Nelson. His humor, honesty, and love for his family will stay with us for years to come.

"We stamp out pain and suffering. That is the focus of our mission. It's really a blessing for us to travel to each country and continue to restore mobility.  

The joy found during each trip is our patients and the relief and gratitude on their faces. But there is a different aspect to our missions that we often don't recognize.

Watching our volunteers thrive and succeed after a difficult surgery or patient situation brings its own type of joy and a sense of accomplishment. ”

Dr. Paul Gilbert

Co-Medical Director

Our team is lucky enough to have donors who also are ready to volunteer during our mission trips. First-time volunteer and Operation Walk Los Angeles Angel, Kathy Link, didn’t shy away from hard work during our return to Tanzania this summer. She carried and unloaded cargo, organized the warehouse, cleaned and washed surgical instruments, and was crucial in loading up our cargo after the conclusion of our mission. A huge thank you to both Kathy and her husband Rich for taking the journey with us and being an integral part of our team.

My husband, Rich, and I are rookies in so many ways. We’ve never been on a medical mission; we’ve never been to Africa; all these things have been new to us. The medical experience was completely new. We had never seen anything about how an operation was planned or how it happened. Everything we did; every single day was an educational experience.

I told Rich, that the thing that I am walking away with, that I just didn’t know until I watched the team, is the commitment to the team itself and that team is what ultimately makes the operation successful. It’s not just one individual. We were watching a surgery in progress and were floored with the fact that there was no verbal communication, instruments were flying, and it was almost crazy what was happening. No words were spoken, yet it was like you were reading each other's thoughts, each other's minds. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the concentration on your faces looking down at the patient’s knee, while your hands were a blur.

It is awe-inspiring, what you do. I am so, so grateful that I got to experience it with you.

-Kathy Link

First-time volunteer 

Operation Walk Los Angeles Angel

Good news from our webmaster, Pablo Ortega. He’s been looking into facilitating recurring payments. Pablo has implemented it across the website, making it easier to donate monthly to Operation Walk Los Angeles and helping us continue our mission to change lives one surgery at a time. Please see our website for more information.