Samantha Shaw from South Dakota is 7-years-old and was born with deformed “cup” ears that stick out. Additionally, her right ear had a malformation called a “lop” ear that flopped inward in a curl. Children have made fun of her and called her Dumbo and Monkey Ears.  “Adults are the worst,” said her Mom, “right in front of her they’ve called her ears gross. I’m worried about bullying and her self-esteem.”

ABC News “Good Morning America” aired an emotional segment about Samantha’s mother contacting our nonprofit organization Little Baby Face Foundation (LBFF). We provide free plastic surgery to children like Samantha whose families cannot afford treatment. LBFF raises donations for the child, plus one parent, to travel to New York City and we cover all medical-related expenses. Our team of gifted plastic surgeons operate on the children free-of-charge at Lenox Hill Hospital, one of the world’s finest facilities.

Good Morning America‘s show covered the topic of plastic surgery as a viable answer for kids born with deformities. Children with birth defects tend to be ostracized and become the butt of cruel jokes. This can create emotional scars that greatly damage a child’s self-esteem. Plastic Reconstructive Surgery is one way to protect deformed children from being bullied.

The founder of LBFF, Dr. Thomas Romo, III, is a world-renowned facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has assembled a talented team of specialist doctors who donate their time to provide surgical services to LBFF patients.

One of our many dedicated LBFF Medical Advisory Board members, Dr. Steven Pearlman, provided Samantha’s surgery pro bono. She underwent two related procedures. First was a general surgery called an otoplasty. Dr. Pearlman said, “We set back the ear and make it look more natural and normal.”  The other procedure was on her right ear to straighten it and prevent it from drooping. Both surgeries have a very high success rate.

ABC’s TV video instantly went viral on the Web. It spread rapidly throughout top news sites including Huffingpost.com, Yahoo.com and the Daily News and appeared on countless blogs. Within two days the video was viewed at least 30,000 times. Visits to our website skyrocketed. There was an inpouring of applications from parents of children with birth defects. Most of these families cannot afford the necessary surgeries and many insurance plans refuse to cover what they deem “cosmetic surgery.”  Little Baby Face Foundation’s mission is to help as many children as we can raise funds for. With this new avalanche of applications we will need to work even harder raising donations and grants.

LBFF is unique because instead of sending doctors to patients, we bring the children here. This way we have more doctors available to provide free surgery and it can be done in the highest quality facility. Our main areas of focus are cleft lip/cleft palate, facial palsy, hemifacial microsomia, microtia, otoplasty and hearing restoration. To learn more please visit littlebabyface.org. Help us help them!

The post I’m very pleased with this article I wrote this morning for the Little Baby Face Foundation blog. Hope you like it too. appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

When I first viewed her photos I felt haunted, desperate to help her. Since I saw her deformities I have not been able to stop thinking about her.

Yulia was born with a severe facial deformity and lives in an orphanage in the Ukraine. Her plight is miserable and her future looks bleak.  My article about Yulia can be viewed in this month’s issue of the Resident magazine. Unfortunately they didn’t post the photos of her. They feel it will upset her readers. Gosh, imagine how Yulia feels if people can’t even look at a photo of her. She is ostracized by her peers in the orphanage. They call her “The Scar.”

Lately I’ve been crazed with tight deadlines and lack of sleep. I can get irritated easily by a bad taxi driver, a bump from a rude passerby or an out-of-service elevator. But when I look at Yulia’s face I realize she would treasure my life. To her it would be heaven. By comparison, most of us have rich full lives with many options. If her story moves you please make a donation towards her medical expenses. I am so thankful for chiropractor Dr. Todd Sinnet jumping at the opportunity to help her by donating funds and  hosting fundraising events.

Top specialists in NYC’s Lenox Hill hospital who will see her provide their services for free. But there are many other expenses to cover for her 6-months of treatments.

If you cannot afford to give please post about her and help me keep spreading the word. I cannot wait for the day I get to meet her and squeeze her tight. I love her already.

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