There is only one word that can truly describe Gavin and that is AMAZING. A baby with an amazingly large facial cleft...a baby with an amazing strength and will...a baby with an amazing transformation.

When I see photos of children affected by clefts, I can usually look past the cleft and truly "see" the child. However, at first glance, it was difficult to see past Gavin's extremely large cleft that engulfed the right side of his face, extending into his cheek, and up to his lower eyelid.

Gavin arrived at the cleft home at 13 days of age. As you can imagine, it was very difficult to feed Gavin, requiring the utmost of patience and attention by his nanny, who would have to feed him very slowly by spoon for several weeks. Thanks to the great care Gavin received, he quickly graduated to bottle feedings, which was still a daunting task for the nanny, but one she lovingly took on for the life of this special child. Gavin made slow, but steady progress over the next 3 months, and began to gain weight very quickly.

In April 2009, Gavin gained the weight he needed to be able to receive surgery by LWB's Cleft Medical Exchange Team led by Dr. Ness. The surgeons worked for over four hours with great skill to repair Gavin's large facial cleft. Gavin's transformation is nothing short of AMAZING! Gavin recovered so well and so quickly that he was ready to graduate from the cleft home and move into foster care four weeks after his surgery. When I look at Gavin now, I see a life that has hope and the chance for a very bright future with a loving adoptive family.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

In one of our recent Heartbridge updates, baby Gina was described as “becoming as cute and chubby as Faith”…Faith being an absolutely darling child with the build of a miniature sumo wrestler. That is quite an accomplishment when you think about how Gina started her life back in January of 2009.

We don’t know all of the details about Gina’s birth, but it is obvious that she came into the world much too early. Weighing only about two pounds, she was much too tiny and weak to even suck from a bottle; her chances of survival were ZERO without some kind of medical intervention. Fortunately, the LWB medical team was able to make arrangements for Gina to receive IV nutrition and other medical treatment at a hospital in Anhui Province.

At the hospital, Gina spent nearly two months in an incubator where she gained strength and her sucking reflex finally kicked in. She started off drinking just half an ounce every two hours, while continuing her IV feedings. By the end of her hospital stay, Gina could drink an ounce and a half at a time, and she had doubled her weight. Now at four pounds, she could safely be moved to Heartbridge.

With small but frequent feedings, a lot of patience, and some serious TLC, the Heartbridge staff was able to turn Gina’s life around in a very short amount of time. In her first two weeks in the home she gained a pound and a half! And each month after that, Gina became stronger and healthier. Her gentle personality emerged, along with what our Heartbridge manager calls “full moon cheeks.”

Gina does have some typical preemie respiratory issues, so she will stay at Heartbridge until the weather in her hometown warms up in the spring. This also gives her time to start working her way through the typical baby milestones that had been delayed because of her early birth. We were wonderfully surprised when Gina made her standing-up debut in December, a full month before her first birthday! Her first steps won’t be far behind, and our dearest hope is that a forever family will find her soon. With this first challenging year behind her, Gina has a wonderful future ahead!