![Cleft Awareness Month 2021 #cleftproud](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-07/cleft-awareness-month-cleft-proud-2021.jpg?itok=buw1bbZh)
What My Cleft Taught Me
In honor of Cleft Awareness Month 2021, Smile Train's Cleft Community Advisory Council presents real-life stories of growing up with a cleft or being the mom to a child with a cleft from people who have been there.
![Pam with Susie and a patient](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-05/pam-s-with-child-and-susie.jpg?itok=n3ThW6VW)
Pamela Sheeran on Smile Train’s Investment in Expanding Non-Surgical Cleft Care
![Iva as a girl before cleft surgery and now.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-05/iva-ballou-og.jpg?itok=Qc0JOgaA)
How Iva Found Joy in Her Cleft
![Daniel in first grade, after receiving cleft surgery in America.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-04/jasmine-c-50-50.jpg?itok=8zvVnM9Z)
Why My Son Says He Always Wanted a Cleft
How Jasmine went from fear and self-doubt upon receiving the news that her baby would have a cleft to raising a six-year-old who is #CleftProud.
![Smile Train patient Gianna after cleft lip and palate surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-03/covid-gianna-after-cleft-lip-palate-surgery.jpg?itok=UTeAm63j)
How Smile Train Kept Making Smiles Through COVID-19
While other cleft organizations’ operations were indefinitely suspended or severely cut back, Smile Train was able to keep moving.
![Dr. Luis Cuadros with a cleft lip and palate patient and his family on a New Mexico Navajo reservation.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/cuadros-new-mexico-navajo-cleft-lip-cleft-palate-surgeries-with-patients_0.jpg?itok=h_bvdazb)
"It Is Possible": Celebrating Dr. Luis Cuadros
Thanks to Dr. Cuadros — and Smile Train — having a cleft on the Navajo reservations of New Mexico is no longer a sentence to a life of isolation and sickness.
![Smile Train CleftCon 2020](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-03/cleftcon-smile-train-2020.jpg?itok=dP2ES-Wq)
Cleft Con Unites #Cleftstrong Community in Pride and Power
"There's power in my cleft."
![Jessi holds her daughter Brennan](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/jessi-holds-daughter.jpg?itok=xRNo7bbM)
“It is a Journey”: In Conversation with the Mom of a Child With a Cleft
Clefts are not just "fixable."
Chelsea and Luca
When Chelsea learned Luca would be born with a cleft, she couldn't find a community to comfort her. So she started her own.
![Christine a member of Smile Train Cleft Community Advisor Council](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/christine-member-of-ccac.jpg?itok=_tTbqaeo)
Christina Errico: The Cleft Community Holds Smile Train Accountable
Overcoming stigma "taught me just what a strong and determined woman I am."
![Jessi-fasse-with-her-son](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/jessie-fasse-and-son.jpg?itok=Obhw0FNN)
CCAC Spotlight: Jessi Fasse
Her family's motto: “May Your Smile Change the World.”