Henry (And How Lucky We Are)

Jeff Hanger

Henry is my eldest son. He is eight years old, loves Harry Potter, Star Wars and Batman, and faces every challenge with a smile.

He was born a beautiful boy with a cleft lip, and had his first surgery when he was four months old. He had surgery again at the age of six, and coped with a liquid diet for three weeks afterwards with a cheeky grin on his face.

But we were lucky.

Unlike other children born with a similar feature, he could drink without choking, there was no obvious scar, and he wasn’t likely to die of starvation or humiliation, as he may have in the developing world.