Young Lin, now 5 years old, is the youngest of four children in his family. When he was born with a cleft lip, his mother cried for days and nights because she had never seen anyone with a cleft lip or cleft palate and did not know what caused her son’s deformity.

She was comforted by her family members who told her there was a surgery that could repair Young Lin’s lip. For years his mother and father could not afford to travel to the nearest hospital and could not save money to pay for surgery because, as farmers, they had no regular source of income.

Young Lin attends kindergarten. He likes school and does not suffer from teasing, just curiosity. Many children he meets ask Young Lin why his lip looks strange. Despite this, Young Lin loves riding his bike and playing with friends.

When Young Lin’s parents learned an Operation Smile medical mission was happening at a hospital three hours away, they saved as much money as possible and were able to buy a bus ticket.

When they arrived at the mission site, they were surprised there were so many children with clefts just like Young Lin. His mother was sad that so many others had worse clefts than her son did.

Anxiously, Young Lin and his mother went through screening and soon learned he was selected to receive surgery. Young Lin is very happy with his new smile and his mother was speechless when she saw her little boy’s cleft lip repaired.