Our Stories » Magical Moments Foundation

Maxwell

Read Maxwell's Story

Morgan

Read Morgan's Story

Asher (and Auggie)

Read Asher (and Auggie)'s Story

Sophia

Read Sophia's Story

Kassidey

Read Kassidey's Story

Ava

Read Ava's Story

Julien

Read Julien's Story

Lauren

Read Lauren's Story

Levi

Read Levi's Story

Maxwell

Maxwell was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. He had one surgery to repair his lip, and received ear tubes at that time as well. He had another surgery to repair his palate, in which he had a slight complication in his recovery that landed us in the ICU for a day.

Currently, he is a thriving, active kid, who started PreK last week. He is always on the go, and recently learned to ride a two wheeled bike in one night. He loves his little sister and is very loving in general, just wants people to be happy.

Morgan

Morgan was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. She had one surgery to repair her lip, and received ear tubes at that time. She another surgery to repair her palate, and unfortunately due to timing, she spent her first birthday in the hospital recovering.

Anyone who has met her recognizes that she is of the mindset that she will do things on her own time, in her own way. She loves her big brother and thinks she is big enough to keep up with him, which lands her in trouble most days and has earned her the nickname “Little Scrappy” since she is tough and strong willed.

Asher (and Auggie)

Asher is a 7 year old who was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. Asher’s best bud (and cleft buddy) is Auggie, a 6-month-old Australian Labradoodle puppy that was born with a unilateral cleft lip, too! Both Asher and Auggie are rambunctious, always ready to play, and love to watch tv together! Asher has had 3 craniofacial surgeries plus ear tubes by the time he was 11 months old. Asher has 4 older brothers and 1 younger sister. He can make friends anywhere he goes. He is extremely outgoing and enjoys playing with his friends at school, home or church. Asher loves dinosaurs, the Avengers, baseball, and is learning to play the guitar. He loves to sit and play music with his dad. Asher knows his cleft makes him unique and strong!

Asher's family was able to adopt Auggie on Dec 1st, 2020 and Asher’s dad flew to California to pick him up. When they were notified that Auggie was available for adoption, they knew they had to make this happen for their family and their local cleft community.

Sophia

"Sophie was born in a beautiful, mountainous region of Guizhou, China. She was born with cleft lip and palate, which means her palate and lip did not close in the womb. She was adopted in December of 2010, and brought our gorgeous girl home just before her first birthday. When my husband Ryan and I traveled to China, we were so excited to be her parents! We certainly were nervous as any new parent would be, but we had taken parenting classes, adoption classes, met with our amazing surgical team, and of course, we purchased ALL of the “cleft specific” bottles we could get our hands on. We overpacked like most first time adoptive parents do, traveled across the globe, saw some sights and finally arrived to our destination in her home province of Guizhou. Jet lagged and over-caffeinated, seated in a drafty, cold office building, we anxiously sat waiting to meet our daughter. Finally, after hearing the elevator open and footsteps shuffle towards the door, it opened, and there she was! Tears and overwhelming emotions flowed, and our prayers were answered. Although there was some fear no doubt on both sides, parent and child alike, we parents thought we were prepared. We were wrong. We were taught a lesson that day; we had no idea what we were doing, but she educated us pretty quickly. My husband Ryan lovingly had prepared one of our special "cleft specific” bottles for me to give her for her first feeding. This item was so foreign to Sophie. She didn’t like it and one of her caregivers quickly stepped in and handed me a bottle she had prepared. It was a standard-issue drug store type bottle. Sophie’s face lit up, she grabbed onto it, and chugged that thing in minutes like it was nothing. You have to understand my astonishment...she had a large cavernous hole in her mouth that led food straight into her sinus cavity. Imagine trying to drink something with no affective barrier to your nose! She showed me her strength that day. I got a tiny glimpse of what adaptability and resilience truly meant. It also saddened me still that she HAD to be strong, if she were going to survive in an orphanage environment as an infant, let alone with a special need that would make it infinitely harder to survive and thrive.

In the following weeks and months, we would learn how to feed her. We were in awe that she would giggle rather than cry when noodles or veggies would come through her nose as she ate. We would smile with her, wipe her nose and keep going. She had a bib on almost the majority of the time, because her beautiful open smile also let the drool out as well as the joy.

She had countless long doctor’s appointments, and her first palate surgery was in March of 2011, to close her soft palate. This precious girl broke my heart to pieces when they wheeled her to her room where I was waiting after surgery. I could see the bed, but they paused outside of the door. I peeked out, and saw my baby with a puffy, bruised face. She saw me and despite her drowsiness, urgently reached for me and started to get up to climb into my arms. Her first surgery on her lip was three months later, and I’ll tell you, I was almost sad to see her wide, baby toothed beautiful smile go. She healed beautifully, and although she had several surgeries to go in the years to come, she could now eat without food coming out of her nose. Because she had a closed palate now, she could start forming words properly and her speech took off. She has endured a lifetime of difficulties. For reasons that we may never know, but we suspect had to do with her birth parents’ inability to give her the medical attention she needed, she lived in a social welfare institution until we adopted her at 11 months. She has endured being taken from everything she knew, her birth parents, birth country, and has experienced the stares of strangers, several surgeries, pain and recoveries, and has done it all with unimaginable quiet strength and dignity. Also, Sophie’s Dad tragically passed away very suddenly in 2018. This was a huge loss to our family that we are still grieving of course. We didn’t have much time to grieve however, before Sophie needed her biggest surgery yet. Her palate bone graft surgery was scheduled for the late summer of 2019, where her surgeon replaced part of her missing hard palate with bone from her hip. Next up and fast forwarding to now, we start orthodontic treatment this year.

When the Magical Moments Foundation contacted us and shared that Sophie had been granted the wish of her choice, we were so shocked, humbled and excited, of course! I have to admit, I was surprised when I had to explain to her why she had been chosen. I’d like to flatter myself into thinking it has to do with my positive parenting, but no, she just sees herself as a normal kid who happens to have surgeries from time to time, and a scar that is fading as the years go by. What a wonderful opportunity for kids who may survive their facial differences, but have to endure SO MUCH adversity. Children with facial differences are often bullied and often not given the kindness and dignity they deserve. They have to adapt, be resilient, and it’s all very exhausting for them emotionally as well as physically. It’s usually a lifetime of medical appointments, surgeries, speech therapy, possible cognitive delays, hearing issues, ENT issues, learning to eat differently, plastic surgery, etc.

Magical Moments Foundation gives children with facial differences a special opportunity for hope and inspiration. This foundation is giving them an exciting chance to dream and explore opportunities that they may not have thought possible. I couldn’t love this organization more. From a grateful mom, thank you Magical Moments Foundation, for bringing some joy and inspiration to my own precious daughter."

Kassidey

Kassidey was born with a Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate. Kassidey has 4 siblings, 1 sibling that was diagnosed with Spina Bifida as an infant, and another sibling that was diagnosed with cancer as an infant. In 2016, Kassidey's father passed away from cancer, and 3 short months later, her paternal grandmother also passed from cancer.

Kassidey has had a difficult journey, including several surgeries of her own, but she has always radiated joy. Kassidey is described as having "the most amazingly caring heart".

Magical Moments Foundation made all of her dreams come true! Magical Moments Foundation was able to provide Kassidey (and her younger brother, Owen) a fun-filled, inspiring weekend that they will NEVER forget.

Ava

Ava was born with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate and a congenital limb amputation due to amniotic band syndrome. Having undergone multiple reconstructive surgical procedures, Ava is kind, resilient, and simply amazing! She dreams of someday writing and producing horror films, and her wish was to learn about how such movies are made. This Halloween, Magical Moments Foundation connected Ava with director/writer Chris and makeup artist Skeet of Universal Studios. During her private behind-the-scenes experience at Universal, Ava learned all about horror movie magic as she was inspired and encouraged to follow her biggest dreams! Nothing can hold her back!

Julien

Julien is an intelligent, loving, and resilient 4-year-old boy with a big sense of humor! Julien was born with Crouzon Syndrome. Since the age of 6 months, Julien has undergone 17 surgeries and countless hospitalizations due to his craniofacial condition. He has been a warrior since birth, having been born at 30 weeks, and has championed through each medical obstacle he has faced. His medical conditions do not stop him from being active (when medically possible); and inquisitive, as he loves to explore, sing & dance, and pretend-play. Julien is well-known and loved at his treating hospital, as most of the staff has had the privilege of seeing Julien grow up. Julien loves karate and aspires to be a ninja when he grows up! Julien also enjoys swimming and swimming helps further develop his motor skills!

Lauren

Lauren was born with Nager Syndrome. From early on in the NICU, her family realized that Lauren responded with music, specifically listening to the singer, Jewel! She found solace in music. As Lauren got older, she started asking questions about the lyrics and what the words meant. This inspired Lauren. She started writing her own lyrics and dreams of becoming a singer/songwriter like Jewel. Lauren's magical moment was to meet Jewel... Her magical moment came true!

Levi

Levi is a charming 6-year-old boy born with a Cleft Lip and Palate! Levi has had 3 surgeries so far and is the most resilient little boy. He's getting ready to start Kindergarten and is eager to make new friends! For Levi's magical moment, he wanted to experience what it would be like to be a monster truck driver!

Magical Moments Foundation made that wish come true! Levi and his family spent some time at the Charolette Motor Speedway Track in NC, and while there, he met with real monster truck drivers, had a complete VIP experience (complete with a ride-a-long in a monster truck), attended the Circle K Monster Truck Bash, and was treated to weekend filled with fun surprises! Levi received special gifts along the way including dinner at the track the night prior, plenty of souvenirs, and even a day at Great Wolf Lodge!