Why SomeTyme Place Gives to Smile Train

Our Story

Recently, we finished a journey that started nearly 20 years ago. During my fifth month of pregnancy a routine ultrasound revealed our unborn daughter’s cleft lip and palate. My husband and I were shocked.  No family history of this or any medical issues explained this. It was difficult for both of us to grapple with something that happened for no apparent reason. The worst part of it was the helplessness and frustration we felt. Either one of us would have given anything to trade places with our tiny baby girl. Over time I learned to embrace the journey and all the struggles it brought. I even learned to find joy and gratitude in it. My daughter has become my biggest inspiration.

Since I internalize a lot, I spent the rest of my pregnancy attempting to process everything, but all the emotion underneath finally surfaced during my less-than-smooth c-section. Immediately after my daughter was born, I wept and wept and wept. Then my husband brought our tiny daughter to me, and I saw her for the first time. What a precious bundle she was! She was a happy baby that laughed a lot and brought us so much joy. Now she is a young lady in college and she still brings us much joy and laughter. She is amazingly resilient and determined. Many times, she could have justifiably cried from the pain and frustration but rarely did. It was amazing to us how she never let anything get her down or stop her from loving life and living it.

The Reality of having a Cleft Lip and Palate

In the beginning, many of our friends and family assumed a cleft lip and palate was a quick fix. Many in our circle of family, friends, and acquaintances had never seen this much less had any real knowledge about it. Many also think it’s purely a cosmetic issue, but I can tell you it’s not. In fact, it’s an 18+ year journey to fix a cleft lip and palate depending on the severity and complications involved.

Cleft lips and palates come in different types. Sometimes it is just one or the other. Sometimes it is a unilateral which means a single split in the lip and palate, and sometimes it is a bilateral which mean there are 2 splits in the lip and palate. My daughter had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Things we take for granted such as eating and drinking became challenges that required doing things differently. These aren’t the only challenges, however. Did you know that cleft lip and palate affects speech, eating, hearing, learning, breathing, and more? Kids with clefts see many specialists for a variety of issues related to clefts. We logged thousands of miles driving to specialists over 17 years.

Our situation was optimal as we never ran into extra complications beyond what was expected along the journey. My daughter finished treatments a few months before her seventeenth birthday. However, many kids have a rougher time. I follow a few cleft groups on social media and some of these kids have 20-30 surgeries! Recovery from these surgeries is often lengthy and requires caution. My daughter’s bone graft required 3 surgeries and 6 weeks of recovery with a liquid diet. After every surgery we exercised extreme caution. The wrong move could send her back to the surgery room. In fact, we ended up homeschooling the kids that year to help ensure this went smoothly.

Kids in the U.S. with cleft lip/palate will likely have between 8-10 surgeries during the course of treatment including at least one bone graft. Many kids go through at least 2 rounds of braces along with other complex orthodontic procedures and surgeries. No treatments are exactly the same because everyone’s situation is different. These kids don’t have an easy time and it’s hard to be tough for so long. 

How You Help

We are fortunate in this country to have the availability of support and medical care to treat and fix this, but many around the world don’t have these resources. This is where Smile Train steps in to help. Many of these children face harsh social realities such as ostracization or abandonment. A simple surgery makes all the difference. The deep gratitude I feel from our experience makes it important to me to give to this organization, so every year SomeTyme Place donates a percentage of total sales to the Smile Train at Christmas.

Smile Train really makes those dollars stretch far which is why I like them. When you make a purchase from SomeTyme Place you help to support something good and make a huge difference in someone’s life. Often, I donate when matching grants are available which stretches the donation even further. Some grants match up to four times the amount you donate! This is an amazing gift for many kids! Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider it. Thank you also to those who support SomeTyme Place! Have an amazing week!

Anna