Y Dim, now 2 years old, was born in the rural mountains of Vietnam with a cleft lip. After she was born, her father announced that he didn’t love her because she is not beautiful. He doesn’t enjoy being around her and refuses to feed or care for her.
Both Y Dim’s father and mother work in the fields, and her older sibling looks after her while they are working. She has a hard time eating, though, and is very fussy.
Y Dim’s mother brought her to a ReSurge clinic in Quy Nhon in 2013, but she had to be turned away because she was not healthy enough to undergo surgery. Determined to get help for her daughter, Y Dim’s mother brought her back to our clinic in Quy Nhon this year and she was accepted for surgery.
The team performed surgery to repair Y Dim’s cleft lip the next morning, and the results are dramatic. The little girl is almost unrecognizable, with her perfect new lip. Her mother said she is incredibly relieved that her husband will now hopefully love his daughter.
Children with cleft lips are frequently shunned and denied an education because of their appearance. But now because of a surgical procedure that took less than an hour, Y Dim has the opportunity to go on to live a full life without the stigma or rejection she might have otherwise faced.
