My son, Max, was born in the middle of a November blizzard in 2008 with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Rewind to our 20 week ultrasound, where we were excited to find out his gender but were surprised to instead learn that he had a cleft. The tech was certain about his lip but […]
Finding ‘encouragement through weariness’ of cleft lip & palate repair with NAM
Dr. Niyant Patel walked into the pre-surgical room 10 minutes early in his charcoal colored scrubs, relaxed and with a smile on his face. “How ya feeling this morning, doc?” my husband asked him. “I’m feeling great. I slept good last night. I’m here early…you ready to get started?” It was 7 a.m. and we […]
How Dr. James Lehman and The Craniofacial Center Team Helped One Patient Find Her Smile
When I was pregnant, the thought of having twins was exciting and overwhelming. When I gave birth 7 weeks early, it was scary. But when I saw my baby girl for the first time, and she didn’t look as we expected, it was a huge mix of emotions. Our daughter, Olivia, was born with a […]
Kids have big smiles for Santa – and their surgeons (Photo Gallery)
Before the arrival of the big guy with a fuzzy beard and furry red velvet suit, the children attending a holiday party at Akron Children’s Hospital were enthralled by an assortment of creatures featuring natural fur – as well as shells, scales and tails.
Inside the OR: 3 month old has surgery to repair cleft lip (Photo gallery)
Salah and Reem Mustafa knew their fourth child was going to be born with a cleft lip and palate. They learned about the birth defect during a prenatal ultrasound.
Lip adhesion surgeries fix son’s cleft
One year ago, we were at Akron Children’s for our son’s first step in lip repair. He was having his lip adhesion surgery. It was such a hard day for us, but the staff at Akron Children’s made themselves available to us the entire time we were in the hospital.