New Mexico has highest number of cleft lips and palates

Daily Times - When Rena Mae Johnson's son was born, she had the feeling that no mother wants to feel. "I thought I did something wrong," said Johnson. Her son had a cleft lip and palate, separate birth defects that affect a child's upper lip or roof of their mouth, or both. The lip or roof of the mouth appeared incomplete because of tissue that never came together during her son's development in the womb. "I was thinking ... This is not right. This is my son," said Johnson. But more than 14 years later, Johnson's son, Landes Harvey, has little more than a scarred lip and a slight speech impediment — a result of years of plastic surgery and speech therapy. "I couldn't really hear him when he used to speak. Now I can," said Johnson. Harvey, now a confident, video-game loving teenager, was just one of about 30 patients that attended the New Mexico Cleft Palate Center clinic in Shiprock on Friday. The clinic, one of many statewide, aims to reduce the number of children suffering the complications of cleft lips and palates in New Mexico, which has the highest number of reported cleft lips and palates reported nationwide. Read More News New Mexico

New Mexico has highest number of cleft lips and palates