My History

I was born on June 25th 1984 with a cleft lip and palate.
These days it is possible for a cleft lip to be detected by ultrasound scans, but my family had no idea until I was born.

I had my first operation aged four months. Since then I've had a further 18 operations to repair my palate, lip and nose.
One in 700 children all over the world are born with this condition – about 1,000 a year in the UK.
These birth defects affect the upper lip and roof of the mouth and happen when the tissue that forms the roof of the mouth and lip don't join before birth. As well as affecting the way a child looks, it can lead to problems with eating, talking and ear infections.
Cleft lip and palates can occur separately or together, on one side (unilateral) or both sides (bilateral). Not being one to do things by halves, I had it all - a bilateral cleft lip and palate. This was me...

Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly. Aren't allowed to attend school or hold a job. And face very difficult lives filled with shame and isolation, pain and heartache. Their clefts usually go untreated because they are poor – too poor to pay for a simple surgery that has been around for decades.

The charity I aim to raise money for - Smile Train - provides free cleft surgery to hundreds of thousands of poor children in developing countries and trains doctors and medical professionals in these countries to deal with these defects.
I was lucky enough to be born in the UK and to be treated by some fantastic specialists in Bradford - maxilo-facial surgeons, plastic surgeons, orthodontists, speech therapists...

I would like help give others just a tiny bit of the opportunity I have had.