After Pamela's delivery, the nurses told her that her son, Sebastian, only had nine days to live. She was devastated. She didn’t know where to turn. Then she was referred to Smile Train's local partner, Fundacion Ninos que Rien.
Everyone told Gyana to abandon her daughter when she was born with a cleft; her husband threatened to kill himself if she didn't. Afraid for both their lives, she took the child and fled.
Aldrian weighed just over 3 lb. when was born and couldn't feed because of his cleft. It fell to his grandmother to keep him alive and get him healthy enough for surgery.