"Knowing the strong emotions I felt when Ethan was born, it was hard to imagine how a family with no access to life-saving surgery would feel. I wanted to help."
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.
When Oscar was born with a cleft, his family found a mission-based organization to provide him with the surgery they could not afford. But when a complication arose, they had already left the country. Thankfully, Smile Train's local partners are always there.
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.