I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. This places me in one of the best possible positions to know what it is to be like a person born with that condition, but also the stresses and strains that are put on the immediate family, in particular, the mother. There is a tendency for her to seek reasons and indeed in the early stages blame herself for the condition. It is, in my view, extremely important for the immediate parents of a child so born to have the best possible guidance and information to show how much can be done to alleviate the condition and to that end, CLAPA can play a significant roll in the early days. Having provided the initial input, it would be a great benefit to the child concerned and its parents to continue support throughout the school days. It is so comforting to know your consultant and to receive his treatment throughout the years.

It may sound ironic, but I have pretty much had a good experience with having a cleft lip and palate. I mean there are always those kids that come up to you and ask 'What happened to your nose' (before I had my fourth surgery) or 'Why do you have a scar on your face?' and you get that awkward moment when you're not sure if you want to explain the whole thing or you just say, 'Well I just do' and not have to deal with it. 

Maybe I should give you an explanation of my whole situation. I was the first child born to my Mum and Dad. Obviously, since I was the first child, my parents were very worried about me and I had two operations, one for the cleft lip repair and one for the cleft palate at an extremely early age. I then acted as a normal child. I had to have to have four lots of grommets as I was partially deaf, just one of many problems that come with clefts.

I went through pre-school perfectly normally and then it was time to go to primary school. My parents were choose the local publics school because they thought I would fit in better with classmates from the same area and background. This did, however, come with its bullying and teasing. Sure enough, they were right to send me to this school. I did have to have a bone graph in the autumn of year 5, which, since it was in the autumn, was a little bit of an issue with missing school.

Secondary school was the same kind of situation. I realised that I had a cleft lip and palate and I tried to act like a normal teenage boy! By secondary school, after becoming a little bit more mature, I did realise that I was a little different than everyone else, but it didn’t really matter to me. My friends liked me for who I was and barely even noticed my scar. It wasn't until GSCEs came that I chose to tell the whole school my story (so far) through a speech I had prepared for my coursework. I received huge amounts of recognition and support from both teachers and classmates.

The autumn of my first year at university was hard for me; that was when I had my osteotomy. Myself, I had two cheek implants that have given lift to my cheeks after undergoing jaw surgery. This operation followed with the cleft lip revision and rhinoplasty. 

Overall, having a cleft lip and palate has been a good thing for me. It has helped me realise at an early age that everything in life isn't that easy but that if you’re positive and have a loving family, everything will turn out all right. I think that the difficulties in life are the most important parts because that’s when you learn everything, and if I had gone through my first 26 years without any problems, when something happened I might not have any idea what had hit me. 

I am a huge supporter of CLAPA and have been for a number of years. I would like to give something back to the cleft community and make a difference to the people around them. It would be a pleasure to make a difference to the lives of others and provide help and support those people.

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