ACPA had an art contest to celebrate its 75th Anniversary.  Several images have been shared on the cover of The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, and we will be sharing other winning artwork on the ACPA blog.   This submission comes from Jeff, Sophie’s dad.  In his words:

“In 2009, my wife and I adopted a baby girl from China.  Sophie had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Before we even traveled to get her, we had been accepted into the cleft repair program at Shriners Hospital in Chicago.

We’d been back only a couple of months when Sophie had her first surgery.  We live in Colorado Springs, so traveling out to Chicago every 6-9 months for checkups and such has been a challenge, but we’re so grateful for the Shriners, nationally and locally.

This painting is of Sophie from 2016 and is before she had her bone graft surgery in September 2017.  You can just see the distinctive cleft profile as she dances to the sound of private music.”

We would like to continue to share artwork from our families in order to spread awareness of each of your individual and unique cleft and craniofacial journeys.  If you have a piece of art to share, please email us.