Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

For the last 3 years, I have done different challenges for a charity
that is very close to my heart, CLAPA. This year Sean an I will be hiking 30 miles on Sunday 30^th May. We will start off from the Woolner residence, and completing not only the Crompton circuit, but pushing it further to incorporate Hollingworth lake.

Cleft lip and palate affects everyone differently. However, this is Alice’s story.

At 20 weeks pregnant, me and Dave went to the hospital, excited to find out whether we were having a girl or boy, we didn’t expect to hear the words ‘there is something wrong with your baby’. The bottom felt like it was falling out of our world.

This is when we had our first contact with CLAPA. We joined their Facebook community, a safe place where we could talk to people about our concerns. This became our lifeline, not only a place for support, but a place to share success. When I put up my first post, it felt like a big virtual hug, the support was amazing.

When Alice was born, and we saw her beautiful face for the first time, all our concerns faded away. 

It is tough, and she has been through a lot, but babies are strong, especially little Alice.

Feeding is the first challenge. Alice wasn’t able to suck, due to the gap in her lip and her palate. We therefore, pump the milk from the bottle, this is a slow task, and requires specialist feeding equipment. CLAPA provide each family with their first set of feeding equipment, and a story book called Callie and her cleft, to explain to brothers and sisters what happens when a new baby with a cleft lip and palate joins the family.

Then there is hearing issues. Glue ear is common for children with cleft lip and palate. Alice has fluid on both ears, and as a result has had moderate hearing loss since birth. This is just being monitored at  regularly, but can result in grommets being fitted, if her development is stunted.

That moves into speech. About half the children that have cleft palate will need speech therapy. We are yet to find out if Alice will be affected, but we have already met with a speech therapist, and are starting  exercises specially designed for cleft children.

With so much to contend with, it can be hard for children to come to terms with what is happening, this is why CLAPA’s Happy Faces Support Group is so useful. A chance for children to meet up, in a fun
environment, and talk in confidence. Alice has already attended two events, a Christmas party and pottery painting, I’m hoping these days will help Alice as much as the facebook group has helped us.

At three months old, Alice had her first surgery, which was a lip repair. It only took a few hours and we only had one night in hospital, but the change was huge.

How she drank her bottle or even breathe was different, but she soon bounced back.

For us as parents it was also difficult, our little girl didn’t look the same. I love her forever smile, but I still miss her gorgeous first smile. It took a little while to process.

It wasn’t long after that we started weaning, getting her ready for her second operation.

At 9 months, it was time for Alice’s second operation, the palate repair. I was more worried this time, if that’s even possible, as she was so much more aware.

The surgery was 3.5 hours long, and Alice did amazingly. We had no
issues with her having to fast, and I actually took her down to surgery fast asleep.

Unfortunately Alice managed to pick up a bug in hospital, which gave her a fever, so we had to stay in hospital for an extra two nights. If recovery wasn’t hard enough already. Due to this, her healing was stunted and a fistula opened up in her palate. As a result Alice needed a third surgery, which we managed to schedule in the middle of a pandemic last summer. This has significantly improved her speech over the last three months.

Alice’s journey is still in the early phases, and CLAPA has been such a
positive force in getting us this far. Please help us raise funds to ensure they are able to help other families, like ours.

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