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.
It broke Dr. Meza's heart to see his patients with clefts struggle to eat, speak, sleep, or even feel good about themselves because of poor dental health. So he partnered with Smile Train to do something about it.
Nurse Celeste always tried to avoid working with the babies with clefts in her neonatal ward because she felt unable to meet their needs. Then her son was born with a cleft.
When Dr. Dau started as a Smile Train partner, he knew children with clefts were often abandoned or put in orphanages. As an orphan himself, he comes to work each day determined that no other child should experience that pain.
After getting over the initial shock of having a baby with a cleft, Bao’s family noticed that he struggled to breathe and was unable to breastfeed. They knew he needed help, but didn't think it would ever be possible for him. Then they learned about Smile Train.