cleft lip and palate
Restoring Confidence to a Child
CBN.com – In a corner, with his head lowered and one hand covering his mouth, Xuefeng sat silently sneaking only the occasional glance at his classmates. Born with a cleft lip and palate, he was not able to speak clearly and had difficulties communicating with others. His classmates ridiculed and ostracized him when he started middle school.
Gradually, Xuefeng withdrew socially and was afraid to even speak in class to ask and answer questions. The inferiority he felt hurt him each day.
Xuefeng lives in a very remote village in Inner Mongolia with his parents and grandmother. His family relies on the father to farm for a living. His mother suffers from some psychological problems and is required to take medication that the family can barely afford.
Moreover, Xuefeng’s grandmother has been confined to her bed for the last five years. With such a heavy financial and emotional burden on the father to care for the family and also cover Xuefeng’s tuition fees, they cannot even consider saving enough money for the corrective cleft/lip palate surgery needed by his son.
Being their only child, Xuefeng’s parents had great hopes for him – dreaming of a brighter future through education. Unable to provide corrective surgery for their son, their hearts were broken when they heard about the discrimination Xuefeng faced at school and how it affected his confidence. Everyday as Xuefeng set out for school, they knew the special kind of courage their son had to have.
Through a public notice offering free cleft lip/palate corrective surgeries for poverty-stricken families, one of Xuefeng’s relatives heard how CBN China could help. When CBN China heard of Xuefeng’s situation, staff immediately contacted this relative offering assistance. CBN China then arranged with Xuefeng’s relatives to provide him an operation at one of Beijing’s best hospitals.
During his recovery in hospital, CBN founder, Pat Robertson was visiting CBN projects in China and was able to met Xuefeng. This young man no longer needed to bow his head in shame amongst people nor cover his mouth. Although Xuefeng is shy, he was able to look up and greet Robertson.
Upon glancing at the before images of Xuefeng and seeing the outstanding surgical results, Robertson commented, “The surgeon who did this is the best I’ve ever seen in the world. She is like Michelangelo!”
Thank you CBN Partners for helping provide the best surgery possible for Xuefeng – restoring confidence to a child’s eyes and hope for his future.
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