ALJAY’S NEW SMILE
SPONSORED CONTENTAnita is a mother who clearly adores her son.
From the moment she found out that she
was to give birth to a son with a cleft, she
protected him, loved him, and dreamed of
the day his lip would be healed.
Anita lives in a small village about two
hours from Cagayan de Oro in the
Philippines. She already had six
children when they found out she
would have Aljay, her seventh.
When the doctor performed
an ultrasound in Anita’s seventh
month of pregnancy, he saw that her
unborn child had a cleft. “He told me
to get rid of him” Anita said, tears pouring
down her cheeks. “I told him that you don’t
just give birth and then give it up. I told him I
want this child.”
When Anita showed her new baby to her
neighbours, they were horrified. ““Your son
looks like a vampire monster” they told me,
and to “get rid of him””. In many places
around the world there is widespread and
severe social stigma associated with cleft
conditions and families are often forced to
hide newborns from their family members
and communities.
Hearing her son being ridiculed was not
the worst of it. “When I tried to feed him, the
milk came out of his nose. I was worried that
he could die.”
Aljay survived and loved school, but the
torment he endured from the other children
was hard to bear. They teased him, laughed
at him, and called him a monster.
When the teasing became too much, Anita
would take Aljay to the cornfields so he was
hidden from view and nobody
could tease him anymore.
When the family heard that
Operation Smile was coming to Cagayan
de Oro they began saving money to afford
transport to get to the city. At the medical
mission Anita finally received the news she
was waiting for: Aljay was healthy enough to
receive surgery. After just over 45 minutes his
lip was repaired and his life was transformed.
Today Aljay is a happy and cheerful boy
who loves going to school and playing with
other children.ABOUT OPERATION SMILE
Operation Smile has provided hundreds of
thousands of safe surgeries for those born
with cleft conditions worldwide.
If you would like additional information
about treating children with cleft lip and cleft
palate, and to find out how you can help,
please visit: http://www.operationsmile.org.uk/
ReadersDigest or call 020 3475 5126.