“I am excited to finish the treatment,” shares Stervenson’s mother. “I wish everything to happen well for the little one so we can go back home.”
Stervenson is a four-year-old boy, who was born in Haiti with a cleft lip and palate. He is his parents’ only child. Stervenson’s father is a motorcycle taxi driver, and his mother sells boiled eggs and sweet bananas in the street to meet their basic needs. Stervenson had surgery to correct his cleft lip at a hospital, but he and his family were sent home when they could not afford the next procedure to repair his cleft palate.
“He cannot talk or eat well,” explain our medical partner at Project Medishare. “When he eats, some of the liquids pass through his nostrils from the inside of his mouth, and this makes it difficult for him to breathe when he is eating. He also experiences runny nose.”
For $960, we can fund cleft palate repair surgery and follow-up care that will help Stervenson eat normally, speak with less difficulty and have a more healthful childhood. Let’s help Stervenson return home with his parents with his cleft lip and palate fully repaired!