Our Stories

Our model of empowering local cleft teams makes all the difference for families like Aaron's.

How Smile Train helped a girl who nearly didn't survive infancy grow to become queen of the rink.

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Smile Train patient Mia from Argentina. 

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.

Smile Train's partners will travel any distance and scale the highest mountains to provide free care to children in need.

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.