Callie & Cesia
Guest blog post by Callie Egland, Smile Network volunteer and trekker.
This is Cesia! The happiest little baby! She did not have the familiar “cleft lip” but instead a cleft palate – where the roof of her mouth opens directly to her nasal cavity. Without surgery, her speech would be 80% unintelligible. Imagine going through school and trying to create relationships without people being able to understand you! Yesterday, she received surgery fixing her palate via the Smile Network and this morning she is eating jello and giggling – unbeknownst to her that her life has been changed for the better in a big, big way. Her dad thanked me with tears in his eyes as he held my hand and that was the big moment for me in this journey. I hope I can adequately relay this big message to all the donors that made this possible for Cesia – and what a happy Papa we gave her as well. The video is of her dad keeping her happy minutes before her surgery that gave her a voice.💕