![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."
![Tom Ragland Smile Train supporter](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/tom-ragland-smile-train.jpg?itok=7RRcdMMM)
Tom Ragland: “Every Child Deserves the Right to Smile.”
"Be strong. Work hard. Love one another."
![Homer Scoville Smile Train supporter](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/homer-scoville-smile-train-supporter.jpg?itok=vuQ6m0sw)
Homer Scoville’s Legacy of Successes and Smiles
While Homer succeeded in three challenging careers, he was most proud of the smiles he made along the way.
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.