Justin Long and Kate Bosworth Visit Smile Train Patients in Mexico City
…and Justin got an unexpected taste of the excellent care they receive

Justin Long and Kate Bosworth knew they would get an up-close look at Smile Train’s work in Mexico City last spring.
They never expected it would get personal, too.
Our two newest Celebrity Ambassadors kicked off their two-day Journey of Smiles by meeting five-month-old Ian and his family at their home. Ian was born with a cleft. Just like his father, Sergio.
Sergio had had cleft surgery as a child but didn’t stick with his follow-up treatment. It is one of his biggest regrets. To this day, his speech is difficult to understand and his teeth are severely misaligned.
When Ian was born with a cleft, too, it was Sergio’s most fervent desire that his son receive the care — and the opportunity — he never did.
So when Ian was referred to nearby Smile Train partner Centro Médico ABC shortly after his birth, Sergio considered it nothing less than an answer to his prayers. Ian will now receive not only surgery for his cleft, but also speech therapy, specialized orthodontics and dentistry, and all the other cleft care he will ever need, completely free, thanks to Smile Train’s donors.
And Sergio will be right by his side for all of it.
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Kate and Justin came on this trip knowing clefts were serious but thought a single surgery was all it took to cure them. Sergio and Ian’s extraordinary story opened their eyes to how the birth difference can impact every aspect of a person’s life if not treated in time — and why Smile Train’s unique model of treating them is so essential.
Unlike other cleft organizations that provide care by flying outside doctors into — then out of — areas of need, Smile Train trains, equips, and funds local healthcare teams around the world to provide safe, high-quality, holistic, and free cleft care to their neighbors in need 365 days a year. It’s how we’ve grown to become the world’s largest cleft organization, sponsoring more than 2 million life-changing cleft surgeries in just 25 years.
The next patients they visited, 11-year-old identical twins Lizeth and Lizbeth, offered a powerful example of what early intervention makes possible.

Both girls were born with a cleft. They received Smile Train-supported cleft surgery from Centro Médico ABC as babies, then speech therapy when they started to talk. Now that their adult teeth are coming in, they wear custom orthodontics, which they proudly showed off to their new friends like their finest bling.
Lizeth and Lizbeth are thriving. They have a lot of friends, are superstars at school, and live life with confidence and smiles big as they are contagious.

After hearing so much about Centro Médico ABC, Kate was excited to meet the staff in person the next morning. But Justin was even more eager — he had suddenly contracted food poisoning and urgently needed to visit the hospital.
“I actually got to witness firsthand how great these doctors were and the level of excellence at this hospital,” he later joked to PEOPLE magazine. “I was the direct recipient of all of this great, important funding from Smile Train.”
While Justin recovered, Kate toured the hospital, where she saw our partners’ work firsthand and learned more about clefts and the importance of comprehensive care.
It was also Children’s Day in Mexico, and that afternoon, Kate and Justin were invited to be guests of honor at a special celebration with Smile Train patients and their families. Though Justin still didn’t feel 100%, nothing could have kept him from this opportunity to spend more time with the children and their families.
Centro Médico ABC and other Smile Train partners regularly host programs like these because, while medical care is essential for people with clefts, it can only ever be part of the cure. For children who are so often bullied and made to feel alone, making friends with other children with clefts is its own form of treatment.
Making friends with celebrities helps, too.
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One week later, Kate and Justin were in New York for Smile Train’s 25th-anniversary Gala, which they co-chaired.

Even while the Hollywood veterans walked the red carpet and told reporters who they were wearing like they’ve done countless times before, this time was different. Their hearts were still in Mexico City, with the patients and families who had stolen them forever. Far from just another paparazzi event, this was now one more way they were putting their good fortune and influence to work to bring health, life, and smiles to more children in need all over the world.
Join Kate and Justin in spreading smiles around the world.