As all of you know, I have always had a desire to help children. This is what made me first want to write children's books and later it was this same desire that pointed me toward a future career in children's medicine. While I think my books must benefit some children somewhere, and my future career as a pediatric heart surgeon will surely benefit children in a real way, at present I am confronted with children in great need that I know can be helped right now with just a small allocation of our resources.If you have never heard of The Smile Train , it is a wonderful organization that provides free surgery to children with cleft lip and palate. This is a cause that is very close to us as a family. A member of our extended family has experienced the pain and psychological hardship of a cleft lip first hand. It is not only painful, but growing up with a cleft lip or palate is psychologically traumatic. The good news is that the surgery takes as little as 45 minutes and costs as little as $250. 100% of your donation goes to providing surgery and programs. My goal is to raise enough money to provide at least one complete surgery. It's a little expensive to do on my own but I know that between all of us we can do it. Please help by donating now following the PayPal link below. I will keep you all updated on how much has been raised and send the money to Smile Train on Sunday, June 8, 2008. Any amount will help, no matter how small.From The Smile Train website:
Over the past eight years, we have provided free cleft surgery for over 300,000 children.
These children were suffering not because they were born with a cleft, but because they were born too poor to ever afford surgery.
Being born with a cleft in a developing country is truly a curse. In fact, every baby born in Uganda with a cleft is given the name Ajok which means literally, “cursed by God.†And no one knows how many newborns with clefts are killed or abandoned right after birth.
And the ones who are lucky enough to find a Smile Train free cleft surgery program, not only survive, they thrive. After a 45 minute surgery hands them back their future, and a second chance at life that they never thought they'd get.Before and After