One in 700. That's all it was. I was born with lateral cleft lip and palate. Some and maybe most people reading this do not know what this is. It's not genetic and it's not a disease. Cleft lip and palate is when your lip and nose palate do not connect.

From about a week old I was brought into surgery to repair my lip and palate. Needless to say, I have had many surgeries over my 19 years.

When I was younger I didn't really know anything was "different" about me. I just went to the surgeons when I had to and listened to what they told me. My young brain wasn't understanding. But eventually, I figured it out. From then, I became an insecure girl. I became more observant on the, what I thought was, the large scar on my lip.

I started to ask my mom for makeup to cover up my scar. I hated having something that stuck out from everyone else. I had a massive underbite and my teeth were in all sorts of directions. But those were things that couldn't be fixed as easily.

Summer of freshman year was life changing for me. It was painful but life changing. On June 3, 2012 I had jaw surgery. After this procedure, my mouth had been rubber banded shut for a month. A liquid diet was what I was living off of. I had feelings of regret while enduring the strong pain. My face was the size of what seemed like a basketball.

I was forced to drink from a syringe and never chew. I was constantly drooling because of my nose being stuffed up and my throat being sore. While I had been in the hospital, I had gotten sick multiple times. This was not fun. Not only because it was vomit, but also because my mouth was rubber banded shut.

Winter of sophomore year was a little more "relaxed." I had deviated septum and pharyngeal flap surgery. This was my nose and throat for those of you who do not know. For those of you who do know me, you probably know I am terrified of needles. Well for this surgery they decided it was time for me to grow up and use an IV before they put me under with a mask. After a puddle of tears and a couple screams, they got the IV in. From then on, I do not remember.

When I had woken up my throat hurt worse than ever. Stitches up and down my throat and a cast on my nose. There was no way I was going to be able to swallow anything. Sadly that meant two horrible nights in the hospital over just one like the last time. Once I finally proved I could swallow some medicine, they released me. They let me go home to my newly engaged mom who was now taking care of myself and my now step father who had just had knee surgery two days after my surgery. But that's a whole other story.

End of Junior year I got my braces off. 3rd-4th grade, then 7th-end of 11th. It was a long run with those suckers. A lot has happened since then. In two months I will be getting my permanant implant teeth. It's pretty exciting just because of how long of a journey it has been. I was born into a family who was able to get me through all of this, a great set of doctors, and a fantastic group of friends who were always there for me.

I haven't shared my story to the public before so this is something different for me. This is some of my story and I hope you enjoyed it.