S to the Power Of Six!!!

Cleft Lip and Palate...

Now for a little serious note. Many people getting put onto the special needs lists of their agencies and are asking for special needs children that have needs that are not physically noticeable, such as VSD. Well, we are here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with a child with cleft lip and/or palate. Some famous people have cleft lip, like Joaquin Phoenix. Wikipedia has a great article on cleft lip and palate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_palate. I highly recommend everyone read this article.

China categorizes the severity of the cleft by degree: first degree cleft (incomplete cleft lip/palate), second degree cleft (unilateral cleft) and third degree cleft (bilateral cleft). Third degree, which is what Sawyer has, is the most severe. While severe, cleft lip/palate are very correctable. We see time and time again that these children are the last ones chosen from the lists. We see postings on APC, cleft adopt, etc... about these children needing to find families before their files go back to the CCAA. Please do not bypass these children because their special need can be seen on the outside, inside they have a heart full of love and joy to give to you and your family.

Here is the story behind Sawyer. We were reading the APC boards and a couple other ones when Shelby got this e-mail. The title of the e-mail, Tyler needs a home before his file gets sent back to CCAA. Shelby e-mailed me the e-mail and asked what I thought. The first thing I said when I saw his picture was, "WOW, how do we get our son home." I didn't even notice that he had a cleft lip and palate. I just knew that he was our son and he needed to be a part of our family. On April 20th, 2006, we sent in our LOI to CCAA. On July 17th, 2006 we got our TA and on July 21st, 2006, we were on our way to bring Sawyer home. Finally, three months ago, today, we had Sawyer in our arms for the first time.

Ever since July 24th, 2006, our lives have filled with happiness, wonder of the unknown and excitement. Sawyer's personality is blossoming more than I could ever imagine. I am, we are, very lucky to have him as our son. He will have surgery on November 7th to fix his cleft palate. Three months from then, he will have a lip revision done to connect muscles in his lip. While the doctors in China did an excellent job on his first lip revision, they did not properly connect some of his muscles in his lip, most likely, because of his size at the time of the surgery.

Fear of the unknown can be very scary, but if you do your research, the unknown can be an exciting challenge that can be overcome. Please, everyone, do your research on the different special needs from VSD, club foot, missing limb/digit, cleft lip/palate, etc..., you might be surprised at what you and your family can handle.

Have a great day.