Photo of the Week - Amazing Changes

This week, two little babies had their lives changed forever by a simple surgery. Both of these children had severe bilateral cleft lip and palate. In less than two hours, their lives were transformed. Thank you to the amazing cleft surgeon at Anhui Children's Hospital who performs these miracles everyday. Both baby Ronnie and baby Paul will now have a wonderful chance at finding a forever family....amazing!

Photo of the Week - Beautiful Robyn

What a gorgeous photo of this beautiful little girl who is in our Henan Cleft Healing Home. Robyn has a bilateral cleft lip that will soon have surgery. She is such a happy baby and loves playing with her foster sister Stephanie. The transformation of these tiny cleft babies to these chubby babies is just so wonderful to see. Every baby receives so much love and tender loving care. To learn more about our Henan Cleft Healing Home or to sponsor Robyn's care click here. Just wait until you see Robyn's new smile.....amazing!

Photo of the Week - Happy 1st Birthday Landri!

First birthdays are always so much fun! In our Anhui Cleft Healing Homes, they are no different. Landri just celebrated her first birthday with cake and presents. What a first year she has had, the traditional ones including crawling and walking, but Landri was also fortunate to have her cleft lip repaired. Now she has the most beautiful smile (buried underneath that icing). Hopefully her second birthday will be spent with her own family!

Q & A on Cleft Lip and Palate

We have had a number of people write in with questions on cleft lip and palate. Below is some information from the cleft section in our Special Needs Manual. If you have any other questions please leave them below in the comments section and we will be happy to answer them.

Facts

• Cleft lip or palate is not caused by something the mother or father did or did not do.
• In the normal course of development, structures simply do not close as is typical.
• A child with cleft lip/palate may have difficulty speaking clearly
• A child with cleft lip/palate may sound as if he or she speaks through her nose
• A child with cleft lip/palate may have difficulty eating
• Food may come through the nose of a child with cleft lip/palate
• A child with cleft lip/palate may have frequent middle ear infections
• A child with cleft palate may tend to have dental cavities
• Cleft lip is a split on either one side (unilateral) or both sides (bilateral). This split may be slight indentation to a full split to the nose.
  
• Cleft palate is a hole in the roof of the mouth and can include both hard and soft palate or just hard.
• Cleft lip and cleft palate may occur separately or together.
  

Treatment

• Cleft lip/palate may be surgically corrected
• Middle ear infections may be treated by a physician
• Speech therapy may help the child to speak more clearly
• Good brushing of the teeth is very important

Feeding/Swallowing

• Child should be held in an upright position in a high chair.
• If food comes out of the nose, child should be seated upright, chin tucked toward chest, shoulders pulled forward
• Child should be fed thick foods such as thicker congee that is chilled or room temperature.
• Child should use a cup with a side cut out.
• The head should not tilt back to take sips.
• A specially designed bottle may be needed.
• If a special bottle is not available use a squeezable bottle with an orthodontic nipple and cut a larger X hole.
• Baby should be burped frequently
• Baby will take longer period of time to feed, 20-30 minutes to take a 2-3 ounce bottle is normal.
• Baby may need to eat smaller amounts but feed more often such as early morning, midmorning, lunch, midafternoon, early evening, and later evening.

Photo of the week - Baby Max

It is with great sadness that we post this photo of the week. This picture of baby Max was taken when he first entered our cleft healing home. We loved how it looked like he was fighting because we all knew that he had a big struggle ahead of him to survive. Abandoned weak and vulnerable from being born with cleft, the doctors did everything possible to try and help him gain the strength he needed. Sadly, baby Max lost his fight this past week. We will never forget him, and we will work even harder to help those babies who are orphaned with cleft lip, as we believe every child's life is just so important.

Rest in peace, sweet baby Max. You are missed.

Every Child is a Miracle

Pablo Casals was a Spanish cellist who once said:

“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.”



When you work daily with children who are so very sick, who are often abandoned when they are at their most weak and fragile, I think there is a tendency for your heart to want to take two steps back, because it wonders how much sadness it can take when it comes to the the lives of children. But then the photos and their file arrive, and the child becomes REAL, and you realize yet again that another tiny life is struggling and fighting to hold on, sadly without a parent to sit and hold them close. Your heart opens back up again to worry, to care, to pray for a miracle so that this child can be healed and someday know what it feels like to be truly loved.

Today we got an update on Max, a 4 month old little boy born with cleft lip and palate who has never been able to gain weight. He arrived at our Anhui Cleft Healing Home a few weeks ago weighing just 6 pounds. He quickly took a turn for the worse, and now is in the ICU with multiple infections and difficulty breathing. All of us who saw his photos today were struck by how tiny and vulnerable he looked in the big hospital bed.

Max IS a miracle, and as Mr. Casals once said, there will never be another child exactly like him. We are asking for prayers for Max, and a supporter who might want to help cover his ICU costs. EVERY CHILD COUNTS, and even though the odds are not in his favor at this moment, we have to keep believing in him because he is fighting so hard to survive.