Siddegowda is an 8-year-old boy who has come for a cleft palate repair. Siddegowda and his mother traveled for 3 hours by bus to get here and have been here since Saturday. He was born with a cleft lip and palate and had the lip repaired when he was 10 months old and a preliminary palate repair in 2009 and has returned for a final repair. He has speech impediments as a result of his cleft palate and hopes to improve his speech after the repair.
He is in 3rd standard in school and likes Kannada (local language) and English class. He enjoys playing video games! His father is a farmer and grows sugar cane.
Siddegowa came through the surgery well with no complications. I stopped by post-op this morning to see him and was greeted with big smiles from him and his mother. Even though we don't speak the same language, a smile says it all!