Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In 2012 we were thrilled to welcome our beautiful baby boy, Benjamin, into the world. Little did we know that he was going to be born with a cleft lip and a little notch in his gum.   I remember the first words my hubby said to me ‘he’s absolutely perfect and just has a little cleft lip’ and of course, he was absolutely perfect.

We were lucky, Benjamin’s cleft only affected his lip and gum but clefts can come in many forms; unilateral (a cleft on one side of the lip), bilateral (a cleft on both sides of the mouth), a cleft on the hard & soft palette,   Babies can be born with a cleft lip (as in our sons case) or a cleft lip and palette.  In extreme cases with the cleft palette it can affect eating, drinking and breathing.

No one knows exactly what causes a cleft. Research  has shown it’s often caused by a combination of different genetic and environmental factors.  With a cleft, sometimes there is a clear family link, other times it just happens as a ‘one off’.  In our case it was a one off as there is no known history of it in either side of our family.

Smile Train is an international charity who work to provide a sustainable approach to all children around the world suffering with cleft. 1 in 700 babies worldwide are born with a cleft and many live in isolation because of the lack of treatment available. With Smile Trains sustainable ‘teach a man to fish’ ethos they provide  training, funding and resources to empower local medical professionals in 90+ countries.  The results to the child are instant...and the best bit? .......many more smiles in the world!

  Just £150 can provide a beautiful smile for 1 child

Thank you for taking to time to read my story and know that any donation however big or small will be most gratefully received and help me get round 26.2 miles of the London Marathon! 

 😍  I promise to SMILE whilst I TRAIN & to smile on the day  all the way round London!   😍

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