Mum of Baby with Cleft Lip and Palate Shows How Beautiful Every Baby Is
Every pregnant mother goes into each ultrasound with excitement, trepidation and everything crossed that their tiny kittle baby is developing well.
For Sarah Heller and her Partner Chris Eidam their 24 week scan didn’t go to plan. They were told that their little baby boy had a Bilateral Cleft lip and Palate which would need multiple surgeries to correct and ongoing medical care through his newborn and toddler years.
Brody’s Ultrasound
Their otherwise healthy pregnancy was all going well and continued to grow well with increased scans throughout to monitor Brody. With each scan they could see their baby more clearly and could see his face and said they fell in love with his “wide smile”
Like anyone faced with a tough road ahead they knew they had two options, to keep Brody’s condition to themselves or to tell the world about him and his journey. They chose the latter option in the hope that they could normalise and bring awareness to these particular birth defects.
The couple told USA Today “It is OK to be proud of your baby no matter the circumstances,”
“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.”
Sarah posted photos and updates on her social media of Brody’s progress which received thousands of heartwarming comments. It was just before New Years that a stranger made a comment on her Instagram page that would break any Mother’s heart. It asked “What’s wrong with his face?”
Sarah the ever resilient Mother told USA Today “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,”
“I will want him to educate, to be an advocate for younger cleft kids who don’t have their own voice yet.”
Sarah and Brody
A few short hours later Sarah was destressing and out to dinner with some of her friends and baby Brody when she was shown just how amazing some people can be. She was handed an envelope, inside was a cheque for $1000 and a very simple note “For the beautiful baby”
