Jennifer Rice: We were at the obstetrics office
and it was our 12-week sonogram and she came
in and just said that she saw that there was
a cleft lip.
Our immediate reaction was just, you know,
there's something wrong and one of the things
that she kept saying was, 'You can see the
defect.
You can see the defect.'
Jason Rice: It just really hits you hard when
you're repeatedly hearing the word over and
over again that your child has a defect.
It didn't seem real.
I work with people in healthcare and people
that have actually worked for Valley Children's
before and they assured me that Valley Children's
only hires people that are experts in the
field.
Dr. Mimi Chao: With a child with cleft lip
and/or palate, they're not only receiving
surgery.
They need their hearing protected.
They need their speech corrected.
They need their teeth lined up.
So it's not just one person that can provide
all their needs.
It is truly a team effort.
They have a lot of specialties.
They have a lot of people there to help.
The sooner we get to them, the sooner we can
provide them with hope and the knowledge that
their child is gonna be okay and I think that
immediately almost turned the tide for the
family that they know their kid is gonna be
okay.
Somebody is out there and that this is nothing
to feel ashamed of.
Even our first time meeting Dr. Chao, my fear
went down significantly, just because I could
tell that she knew exactly what she was talking
about.
We give them the information and that knowledge
empowers them to be an advocate for their
child before their child is even born.
She was like, 'Even if it's one in the morning,
send me an email.'
Knowing that that was available was huge.
While we were waiting in the waiting room,
I think the surgery was scheduled for about
four hours, you know, she had said that she
was gonna take as long as it needed to be
perfect.
And Dr. Chao did that.
The first thing that she said was that it
went perfectly...
That the surgery went really well.
That's the first thing that you wanna hear
when the doctor comes out is,
'Everything was perfect.'
Because of the surgery, now he can eat spaghetti.
He can drink through a straw.
He can blow bubbles.
He's able to do a lot of things that he previously
would've been unable to do.
Celebrities pay good money to have a cute
pout look like Landon has!
I think just right away, knowing that Dr.
Chao was gonna be there for us...
We already know she's gonna do a great
job.
I have the utmost confidence in Valley Children's.
Dr. Chao: We earn the trust of our families.
They recognize the expertise we have here.
They recognize and appreciate the results
that we can give.
It is huge for me, as a doctor, to receive
that kind of endorsement from my family because
it positively reaffirms that I did a good
job.
