Swastik Shares His Wisdom

Shock, sadness, worry. The wave of emotions that hit Reena in the delivery room were not what she had expected. She had never seen a cleft before in her life, and now there was her newborn son, Swastik. She and her husband, Ravi, swiftly agreed: Finding care for him would be their top priority.

The doctors at the hospital offered little help. Back home, the neighbors attributed Swastik’s cleft to either a lunar eclipse or Reena and Ravi’s own actions. But Reena quickly dismissed such talk.

Two weeks after Swastik’s birth, they finally got a lead: A friend mentioned that Smile Train sponsored cleft surgeries at nearby Amandeep Hospital. From the moment they arrived at Amandeep and saw other kids like their son in the halls, Reena and Ravi felt calmer.

“We realized that clefts are common, treatable, and can happen to anybody,” Reena said. “The doctors comforted us and told us that our son would be fine.”

The staff at Amandeep introduced her to spoon-feeding, which alleviated the primary challenge she had faced with Swastik — getting him to eat. Milk would often come out of his nose or choke him rather than go to his stomach. “It was scary to think that your child has been hungry and weak for days,” Reena said. But with a new feeding technique, he was better able to take in nutrition, and she saw a clear difference in his behavior.

At four months old, Swastik underwent his first cleft surgery, to heal his cleft lip. “The results were outstanding,” Reena recalled. “I cannot express our happiness.” After his second surgery, to heal his cleft palate, his eating challenges disappeared.

Swastik, now 15, still goes to Amandeep regularly for speech therapy and orthodontic treatment. At school, his favorite subjects are math and science. “They captivate me,” he shared, “because I like calculations and practical problems.” He has his sights set on joining the army one day, because “all army men I know are smart." Reena hopes he will become a plastic surgeon.

Swastik’s advice for fellow cleft-affected youth? “I would tell them they don’t need to worry. There is a solution to every problem in the world. You can get treatment. What matters is to have faith, follow all medical instruction, and be on time for visitations. Don’t skip any parts of the therapy. You will be amazed.”

To everyone who donated to Smile Train to make her son’s second chance possible, Reena says, “Thank you so much. You help our kids so much. I wish you all happiness and good health.”