“I’m a full grown man…I cried like a baby.”

“Here’s some more info for anyone else interested: http://www.operationsmile.org/ways_to_give/ “

“You can donate a small amount monthly. I did and I never regretted it, even though I have a low income. You won’t even notice $20 a month difference, but they will.”

“I recommend donating to Smile Train over Operation Smile—I think http://smiletrain.com/ fixes a cleft lip for $15 and Operation Smile for $20. The board of Smile Train also makes almost nothing where Operation Smile makes a pretty good salary.”

“I did too…her smile just killed me. Her eyes just had so much life in them!”

From Wikipedia:

Cleft may cause problems with feeding, ear disease, speech and socialization.

Due to lack of suction, an infant with a cleft may have trouble feeding. An infant with a cleft palate will have greater success feeding in a more upright position. Gravity will help prevent milk from coming through the baby’s nose if he/she has cleft palate. Gravity feeding can be accomplished by using specialized equipment, such as the Haberman Feeder, or by using a combination of nipples and bottle inserts like the one shown, is commonly used with other infants. A large hole, crosscut, or slit in the nipple, a protruding nipple and rhythmically squeezing the bottle insert can result in controllable flow to the infant without the stigma caused by specialized equipment.

Individuals with cleft also face many middle ear infections which may eventually lead to hearing loss. The Eustachian tubes and external ear canals may be angled or tortuous, leading to food or other contamination of a part of the body that is normally self-cleaning. Hearing is related to learning to speak. Babies with palatal clefts may have compromised hearing and therefore, if the baby cannot hear, it cannot try to mimic the sounds of speech. Thus, even before expressive language acquisition, the baby with the cleft palate is at risk for receptive language acquisition. Because the lips and palate are both used in pronunciation, individuals with cleft usually need the aid of a speech therapist.

And we can’t forget the emotional damage through teasing or bullying, that’s for sure.