In the seventeen years of Shaikha’s life, she has spent an exceptional amount of time undergoing medical procedures. “By the age of 11, I already had 19 surgeries,” she explains. “I've had 25 surgeries in total.”

As an adopted toddler, Dan came from China to CHOP, where for the next 18 years the multidisciplinary cleft palate team provided peak care, including multiple surgeries.

Nora had the least common type of fused skull seam. Her CHOP surgeon had all the tools in his toolbox for the many surgical ways to treat it.

An oral tumor formed before birth caused Stella’s cleft palate, but CHOP surgeons expertly corrected both conditions. Now she’s babbling away.

With two successful surgeries to repair her cleft lip and cleft palate, and a third a few years down the road, 2-year-old Sophia is thriving.