Sara Heller works hard to advocate for mothers of children born with cleft pallets and wants moms like her to be proud of their babies and flaunt the pictures of their early years.
Sara is a blogger and writes about what it’s like to have a child with a cleft palate/lip.
“It’s not always easy, in fact, it rarely is (as most mothers can relate). But being his mom has given my life a whole new purpose – I am his voice, his biggest advocate, and his number one fan,” Sara writes on her blog.
“Brody William came into this world on October 7th, 2016. Born with cleft lip/palate and a rare chromosome deletion, he continues to show us his strength each day.”
Cleft palates occur when tissues don’t fuse in the lip area during pregnancy. Children with clefts will often have a series of surgeries to repair their lips and may have to undergo therapy to learn how to speak and eat.
Brody’s son requires a feeding tube in order to receive nutrition. Sara used social media to bring awareness to Brody’s condition.
“It is OK to be proud of your baby no matter the circumstances,” Heller told TODAY. “We wanted to change what ultrasound/newborn/ first-year pictures on our Facebook/Instagram accounts looked like. We wanted to spread awareness of cleft lips and palates.”
Sara was upset when someone on social media asked: “What’s wrong with his face?”
“I wasn’t prepared to defend my 3-month-old and why he looks ‘different’ from other babies. I decided to educate rather than create a confrontation because that is what I want Brody to do in the future,” she said. “I will want him to educate, to be an advocate for younger cleft kids who don’t have their own voice yet.”
But just a few hours later a random act of kindness changed her outlook on people in the world.
She was out to dinner with her son and some friends when the server delivered a folded piece of paper to her which was a check for $1,000. The memo read: “For the beautiful baby.”
“Tears fell from my eyes immediately and the happiness my heartfelt is indescribable,” she said.
The funds were used to help pay for some of Brody’s medical bills. He has since had several surgeries to repair his lip.
“This experience has shown us just how strong the cleft community is. We’ve been contacted by people all over the country … they are praying for us and asking us to reach out if we need anything.”
Even when others can be rude, Sara found that there are always more people who are willing to be kind.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
