Cleft lip beauty Katie Barrow needs your help now. She needed help 20 years ago, and apparently received some very good surgical help, judging from the outcome of her four facial operations. Let's set aside quibbling as to whether talented reconstructive surgeons gave her an edge, just as Oscar Pistorius' "blades" may've given him an edge against other runners (lot of good they're doing him now). Katie deserves your financial support because, as a cleft lip and palate afflicted infant, … [Read more...]
Cleft lip and palate beauty headed for pageant. No bullying any longer.
Will she "Win one for the Cleft Lip -per"? While we folks with facial differences often aspire to appear average or normal, it's not everyday that one of us is singled out for being above average, looks-wise. In Katie Barrow's case, she's been selected to be one of the 12 finalists to compete in the Miss Canada Globe beauty pageant in Toronto this summer. This is no Para-Pageant limited to special folks like the eminently-admirable Para Olympics going on in Sochi at this very moment. This … [Read more...]
Cleft Heart Characters from early chapters. . . and a Warning.
SPOILER ALERT: If you enjoy fantasizing how characters look in books or want to be surprised on every page, then don't look at these photos until you've finished reading the first quarter of the book. Otherwise, enjoy photos of my grandparents, parents, and me. Cleft Heart characters and "found" objects Intermixed with key characters are medical images: a hospital bill, a payment booklet, and a very simplified diagram of a lip and nostril repair. Hospital charges and my parents … [Read more...]
Some Cleft Lip kids still have a Scary Face after Halloween
By Terry Ryan A scary face is acceptable at Halloween time, in fact expected, and the scarier the better according to most children. But what happens to the child that still has a “scary” face after Halloween when they take their Frankenstein or Dracula masks off? I’m talking about children who suffer from cleft lips. They can never take off their facial deformities or scars from the many operations they have had to endure to correct their smiles. These children have to tolerate the stares … [Read more...]
Disney Demonizes Cleft Lips
So, the latest Lone Ranger movie tries to do justice to the oft stereotyped Tonto. It may succeed, but I haven't seen the movie since the trailers depict it as another violent action movie geared for young people. But therein lies the rub. Disney has created a cleft-lipped villain who is bound to influence children and youth for a generation (DVDs last a long time). The Lego Corporation is guilty, too, as it has created a figure for the villain. As the Lego ads say, "Butch Cavendish is a … [Read more...]