>> Our daughter Veronica is having a surgery today. She was born with cleft lip and palate.
And today she’s going to have a jaw surgery.
>> Veronica’s family has been a big part of our team for a lot of years. And I’ve
watched Veronica grow up.
>> I think Dr. Taylor is great. Every single time I see him, he gives me a hug and I feel
welcomed.
>> Veronica was born in Quito, Ecuador. And she was diagnosed with cleft lip and palate.
Six months later she had the surgery, they closed her palate. But after that there was
nothing else that we could do for her in Ecuador. The medicine was not as advanced as it was
here. We got in touch with my sister who lives up here in America and she was able to call
Children’s Hospital. That was when we started the whole journey.
We made decision to move up here to America and come to Children’s Hospital to the best
hospital in the world. And to give the best to our daughter.
>> Veronica is definitely a resilient kid. She’s very bright, very high achieving,
a great athlete, and really connected with friends. For her, surgery was a scary thing.
>> For the past 15 years that we’ve been coming to Children’s Hospital, Veronica
had a retouch of her nose tip, and a little bit of her lip as well. Some teeth removed,
bone graphed, and today she is going to have a jaw surgery. And they are going to realign
her chin.
>> It’s a fair size surgery. It’s painful, but it’s also one of the most powerful tools
we have to change appearance and to improve function of the face.
>> The doctors, really explained it to me, they didn’t make it sound scary even
though it was a big step. I was OK. I trusted them.
>> She had a lot of anxiety about how this would change how she looks, how she
speaks, what other people might think of her.
>> So we’re basically going to move the upper jaw forward via an incision inside the
lip.
>> It made me feel like I was important to them and that they really wanted to help me.
But I think Dr. Taylor is great. I can tell him anything, I can tell him what’s wrong
and he’ll tell me, “Oh I can fix that. I can help you.”
♪♪
>> Everything went really well. I was very pleased with how the bones moved and then
came together after we moved them. I was very pleased with the fixation and she looks superb.
When you bring that mid-face forward, you get filling of the soft tissues in the mid-face
which can actually help with the scarring of cleft lip. And then you get a much more
harmonious facial profile. It’s one of the most powerful tools we have to improve appearance
in all of what we do.
>> All the doctors, they have this amazing knowledge and this amazing desire to help
our kids. She grew up coming to Children’s Hospital. It’s part of their life. It’s
part of our lives. It’s our journey. And you’re not alone. You have a big team, full
of knowledge, support.
>> Well, after 15 years being at Children’s Hospital, I feel great. I’m very confident
with myself now.
>> Fifteen years sounds long though, but it’s not. It’s just part of your life. Every
year you see changes. You see a difference. You see results. You see great things happening.
Now looking at Veronica, it’s amazing. It’s something that ... I just have to say thank you.