Raj Bauri (1-year-old) is the only child of Nityananda Bauri and Kusum Bauri. They live in a village near Katwa town of West Bengal. He was born with cleft lip deformity and his parents were very sad to see their only child born with this deformity.
The neighbors and the relatives blamed Kusum for her negligence during pregnancy for Raj’s condition. Her relatives believe that a pregnant woman should lie straight on a bed without bending her hands and legs during the period of an eclipse. If she follows the advice then the child in her womb does not get affected due to the transition of earth and moon. They suspected that Kusum may not have followed the directive and hence deformities occurred in her baby. Nurses and other staffs from the local hospital could not give any logical reasoning to the distressed mother about the occurrence of cleft deformity in her newborn.
Amidst all the tensions, Kusum was sent to her maternal home in Kalna. Bishu Malo, her neighbor informed her about Mission Smile’s free surgeries for Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate. The fact is that Bishu’s 3-year-old toddler had gone through palate surgery at the NH Hospital in Barasat, Mission Smile’s Outreach Centre (ORC). The toddler’s successful surgery motivated Kusum to bring Raj to Mission Smile ORC.
The family reached the Outreach Centre for Raj’s medical examination after 6 hours of journey. Raj was medically examined on 25th February 2016 and was found fit for surgery. Raj’s surgery was successfully conducted by Mission Smile team. Kusum cried in joy on seeing her child with his lips corrected. They went back to their village next day brimming with joy and happiness for her little one. Kusum now has a fitting reply to all those who said her child was cursed!
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