Operation Smile–WHAT A WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION

Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity that heals children’s smiles, forever changing their lives. 

Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can’t afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life

Since 1982, Operation smile – through the help of dedicated medical volunteers – has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, palates and other facial deformities.

Cleft lip and cleft palate comprise the most common birth defect in the United States. One of every 600 newborns is affected by cleft lip and/or cleft palate.

A cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the lip. The separation often includes the bones of the upper jaw and/or upper gum. A cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth in which the two sides of the palate did not fuse, or join together, as the unborn baby was developing. Cleft lip and cleft palate can occur on one side (unilateral cleft lip and/or palate), or on both sides (bilateral cleft lip and/or palate). Because the lip and the palate develop separately, it is possible for the child to have a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or both cleft lip and cleft palate.

Cleft lip and cleft palate are congenital defects, or birth defects, which occur very early in pregnancy. The majority of clefts appear to be due to a combination of genetics and environmental factors. The risks of recurrence of a cleft condition are dependent upon many factors, including the number of affected persons in the family, the closeness of affected relatives, the race and sex of all affected persons, and the severity of the clefts.

A child born with a cleft frequently requires several different types of services, e.g., surgery, dental/orthodontic care, and speech therapy, all of which need to be provided in a coordinated manner over a period of years. This coordinated care is provided by interdisciplinary cleft palate/craniofacial teams comprised of professionals from a variety of health care disciplines who work together on the child’s total rehabilitation (www.cleftline.org)

With out the help and donations of people and companies such as campusbookrentals.com, Operation Smile wouldn’t be able to help all the children and families they do each year. Campusbookrentals.com donates to Operation Smile with each textbook rented from their site!
So all you college students check out their site and check out some of the perks of renting books:
-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-flexible renting periods
-we donate to Operation Smile with each textbook rented

So many children are blessed because of the wonderful work and love from Operation Smile and all the people that support them!

My 3 year old son Isaiah was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate.  With out the opportunity for him to have the surgeries I know he would not be able to function like he does today.
Below are pictures of Isaiah before surgery, after surgery, and now!