OUR STORY
| My name is Ketia Salvador the founder of the Smile Like Ethan Foundation Inc. Twenty-fourteen was one of the best years of our lives after the nurse told my husband and I that we were expecting. We were delighted as we had been waiting for three years for that wonderful news. For some, three years might seem normal, but for us, the chance of having a baby was slim to none. We were very excited. Life was perfect; we were making plans and enjoying our good lives.
Everything changed when the unexpected 20-week ultrasound confirmed our baby would be born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. We had no idea of what that meant at the time. The doctor started to explain to us that a cleft happens when the lip or the palate do not fuse together during fetal development. Our baby would be undergoing multiple surgeries for him to have a normal face and to able to eat and drink properly. I can’t begin to describe to you the feelings and the thoughts that were going through our mind. We went home that night and started to browse the internet, I cried uncontrollably when I started to see pictures of cleft palate patients. Nothing in this world could have consoled me for this journey that we would now embark on. I was mad at myself, and mad at the world. This was the worst day of our lives. Tears, guilt, anxiety and fear were crushing me as I waited for the nine months to pass. Ethan was nine months old when his upper lip was reconstructed. By looking at Ethan progress, my husband and I were talking about how blessed we are and decided to have a foundation name Smile Like Ethan to help other kids affected with Cleft Lip and Palate globally |
ABOUT US
Smile like Ethan is a foundation that brings awareness about cleft lip and palate in the community, set up as a partnership between parents and health professionals, is to bring support to parents; to provide baby supplies such as special bottle to parents in under developed country; to educate families and younger kids about self-esteem and to inspire them.
OUR PROGRAMS
We committed; to bring quality care to every child with a cleft lip and palate deformity abroad. We want our cleft/lip and palate Kids to be treated with dignity and respect.
RECENT PROJECTS
We run projects in over 30 countries in 5 contintents
CHANGE A LIFE TODAY
As long as poverty, injustice & inequality persist, none of us can truly rest. It doesn’t take much to change a life, Get in touch today and start making the difference.
BOARD MEMBERS
