January round-up

As always, it's been a busy month here at CLAPA for our small team! Here's what we've achieved during the January lockdown thanks to your support. We:

• Sent out over 1,000 items of specialist feeding equipment to families around the UK and EU. CLAPA team member, Anna, recently took this photo in between packing up feeding orders at our London office!
• Matched up 4 people with a trained volunteer supporter - read more about our Peer & Parent Support Service below!
• Ran a 'Dealing with Diagnosis' Coffee Club, and a 'Dental Hygiene Q&A'  event. Have your say on the kinds of events we run in 2021!
• Answered 16 queries through our information service.
• Made some big plans for 2021 and beyond. We look forward to telling you more about them next month!

If you missed our Dental Hygiene Q&A on Facebook Live, you can catch up using the link below. A subtitled video will be available our website soon.

Spotlight On: Our Peer & Parent Support Service

Sometimes just knowing you’re not alone is a vital step to feeling better, and CLAPA has always been about bringing people affected by cleft together to share experiences and gain support.

With CLAPA’s Peer and Parent Support service you can chat to a trained volunteer about whatever’s on your mind, from discussing worries about feeding to asking questions about future surgery and self-esteem. All our Supporters are affected by cleft themselves, so you can talk things through with someone who really understands what you’re going through.

Wherever you are on your journey and whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone. Find out more and sign up on our website today.

Coming up: CLAPA Coffee Club

Join us on Monday 15th February at 7pm for our next Coffee Club on the topic of 'Early Years Feeding & Surgery'.

You'll be able to share your experiences and questions about feeding, weaning and repair surgeries with other parents and carers in a friendly and non-judgemental environment., helping you to chat through any worries or concerns you might have on these topics.  You are also very welcome to come along and just listen to the discussion if you'd prefer.

As always, we are welcoming parents and carers of children of all ages, as well as close relatives. Coffee Club regulars and newcomers are all welcome!

How can you make a difference?

Everything we do at CLAPA is because of your incredible support, and we are always amazed by the dedication and creativity of our amazing fundraisers!

We've got lots of ideas on our website so, whether you take on a virtual challenge, set up a JustGiving page, or come up with your own fundraiser, you can make a huge difference to our work in a way that works for you.

Georgia's Story

If you have a child with a cleft, chances are the moment you found out about it is still clear in your mind, whether it happened last month, last year, or even last century.⠀
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Georgia knows all about how emotional this moment can be – she’s been through it twice. “I received Theo's cleft diagnosis at my 20-week scan and I was extremely scared and confused,” she says, “The next 19 weeks went by in a blur with visits from the Cleft Team and spending hours trawling through the internet reading information about clefts and cleft related conditions.”⠀
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Six years later, Georgia found out her second son, Jude, would also be born with a cleft, and this time around was no easier than the first. “I immediately burst into tears, saying, ‘but I did everything right this time, I took folic acid like the doctor said!’ The sonographer assured me that it was nothing I had done wrong and gave me a big hug which I needed so much.”⠀
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While these moments were difficult, Georgia knew that just like the first time around, everything would change once her baby was born. “As soon as I held him I fell in love, as I did with his big brother. The only thing I could think of was how beautiful he was and how lucky I was to have two amazing sons who were happy and otherwise healthy.”⠀
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By sharing her experiences, Georgia hopes to reassure others that they aren’t alone in whatever they might be feeling, wherever they are on their journeys.⠀