Craniofacial

Each year, Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center treats hundreds of children with craniosynostosis, a condition most families have never heard of, yet can affect approximately 1 in every 2,500 babies in the United States.

That was the case for Kali Dempsey’s family, of Camano Island, WA, in early 2017.

“We were sent to Seattle Children’s when my son Ronan was about a month old and they diagnosed him there,” explained Dempsey. “It was all brand new. You hear about all kinds of things, but I had never come across craniosynostosis before.”

At birth, the seams between the bone plates in a baby’s skull are not fused together, allowing a child’s head to move through the birth canal and permitting the skull to grow bigger over time. Craniosynostosis is when one or more of these seams closes too early.

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Cleft teams from Seattle, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana joined together for the PACT program’s 5-day workshop

Every year, Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center treats hundreds of children with craniofacial conditions and rare syndromes. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common kinds of birth defects in the United States, and affects more than 1 in 1000 newborns around the world.

The lip and palate (roof of mouth) form in early pregnancy. Cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the upper lip and a cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth that occurs when the two sides of the palate do not bond together. A cleft palate can impact a child’s ability to speak, swallow and sometimes hear properly.

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7-year-old Loui Legend Heath Herriott was born with Treacher Collins syndrome

Located just under two hours from London in South East England is the coastal city of Brighton, home to a 7-year-old child who is truly living up to his name.

Loui Legend Heath Herriott was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects the development of bones and tissues in the face, and occurs in about 1 in 50,000 newborns worldwide.

Though the severity of this syndrome varies from child to child, impacted areas often include the cheekbones, jaws, ears and eyelids, and children often have problems breathing, swallowing, chewing, hearing and with speech.

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When Victoria Reece found out she was pregnant, she and her husband were elated. During their 20-week ultrasound, they found out they were having a boy and left the appointment over the moon with excitement, envisioning a bright future as a family of three with their baby boy in tow.

The next day, they received an unexpected call.

“That’s when the chaos began,” Reece said.

The couple went back for more ultrasounds and their baby was diagnosed with a bilateral cleft lip and palate.

“We were really scared,” Reece said. “I had so much anxiety about it.” Read full post »

Twins Melody (top) and Lyric Allen were born amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Melody, like her mother, was born with a condition called craniofacial microsomia and needed care through in-person and telehealth appointments provided by Seattle Children’s Craniofacial team in the immediate days, weeks and months following her diagnosis.

Just weeks after the state of Washington went under shelter-in-place guidelines, Jenalysse Renaud gave birth to two beautiful babies on April 17, 2020. Renaud and Donovan Allen, the twins’ musician father, named them Melody and Lyric.

Melody, a whole two minutes older than her little brother, faces a few challenges. Her left eye is smaller than her right and is being monitored for potential blindness. In addition, she likely has hearing loss or deafness in one ear, all features of hemifacial microsomia. After several tests, she was also diagnosed with malrotation— an abnormality in which the intestine does not form in the correct way in the abdomen—at just a month old. Thankfully, she shouldn’t face any prolonged consequences from that diagnosis after undergoing corrective surgery in May.

Renaud herself was born with hemifacial microsomia, the same condition Melody now faces. Craniofacial microsomia, also known as hemifacial microsomia, is a congenital condition in which the tissues on one side of the face are underdeveloped—as well as some hearing loss. Renaud was also born with a solitary left kidney. Read full post »

From day one, 21-year-old Sean Gallagher has been able to command a room. He jokes that it’s because he has a flair for the dramatic; it could also be because of his bright and infectious personality.

Sean was born with a facial difference, and his medical journey has been long and complex. MaryJo Gallagher and her husband David knew their son would be born with a small jaw, but the extent of Sean’s condition was beyond what they had envisioned. Immediately after the delivery, Sean was whisked away by a frenzied team of doctors and nurses.

The next couple days were a blur of emotions as the couple grappled with their son’s condition and what it meant for his development. They had many questions, but not nearly enough answers.

Dr. Michael Cunningham, division chief and medical director of Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center, said he’ll never forget the first time he met Sean’s family. Sean was only 2 days old at the time. Cunningham went to visit them at the hospital where Sean was delivered.

“I was standing across the bed talking to Sean’s mom and said, ‘Everything is going to be okay,’” Cunningham said.

MaryJo said she’ll never forget that day either. She said it was like a physical weight had been lifted off their shoulders. They felt hopeful.

“He’s a family hero,” MaryJo said. “He explained to us about Sean’s condition. He knew right away what it was. We were so appreciative of him reassuring us. This is not the road we would have chosen for our little boy, but we are glad we are on it together.” Read full post »

The author with her daughter, Mariana, 7. Mariana has a rare disease called Pfeiffer Syndrome.

Often in life we have a vision of what we want or imagine our lives to be like, but along that journey, life presents obstacles and opportunities for us. It shapes us and makes us who we are.

My own journey started with its own twists and turns. I was born in Medellin, Colombia and moved to Seattle with my mom at the age of 7. Two months later I got sick. I couldn’t stop throwing up and had a hard time waking up. A year after being hospitalized on and off at Seattle Children’s, I was diagnosed with a cavernous malformation and had brain surgery two months later. My chances of surviving the surgery were small. In Colombia I would have died, but Seattle Children’s saved my life.

When I gave birth to my daughter, Mariana, 27 years later, I never imagined that she too would face a serious medical condition. Much of my life was impacted by my medical condition, but it was nothing compared to what our family would experience as we learned Mariana had an incurable rare disease. It was the beginning of a life-changing journey for our family. Read full post »

Tristan, 9, recently underwent a three-stage nose reconstruction.

For most of the past year, 9-year-old Tristan Beck has been on a long, challenging journey toward nose reconstruction after a traumatic accident left him with a missing nose.

December 20, 2017 was a normal day of winter break for the Beck family. Tristan and his older sister were visiting their mother’s office to drop off food for a party. When they returned to the car, a dog was in the parking lot, showing no signs of aggression. However, when Tristan began to throw the dog a piece of food, it lunged at Tristan’s face and pulled him down. Tristan’s sister pulled him back, and the dog ran away.

All Tina Beck, Tristan’s mother, remembers is the blood on his face when his sister brought him back into her office.

“There was so much blood it was hard to see exactly what was wrong,” said Beck. “It was very hard for me to look at my son at first. My heart hurt and I was blaming myself for what had happened, but I wanted to be strong for him.”

The family called 911, and Tristan was transported to Seattle Children’s Emergency Department. Read full post »

Representing about 70% of cleft lip and palate cases worldwide, non-syndromic cleft lip and palate typically occurs in isolation without other physical abnormalities. Credit: Getty Images.

A study conducted by an international research team, which included investigators from Seattle Children’s Research Institute, implicates variants in four genes as a primary cause of non-syndromic cleft lip and palate in humans. The genes, associated for the first time with cleft lip and palate, encode proteins that work together in a network, providing important insight into the biological basis of one of the most common physical malformations. Read full post »

Kai was first seen at Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center when he was 5 months old.

Samantha Alexander first met Dr. Emily Gallagher, a craniofacial pediatrician in Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center, when Alexander brought her 5-month-old son, Kai, to the clinic. Kai’s primary care doctor thought plates in his skull had fused together too quickly. He was evaluated for a metopic ridge, creating a point on his forehead.

While she feared he may need surgery, everything turned out fine. Alexander lovingly jokes, “He has a really big head.”

But from that initial clinic appointment, Alexander and Gallagher bonded over an unlikely love: children’s books. After the appointment was over, they chatted about their favorite books for nearly 30 minutes.

Alexander was an elementary school teacher before moving to Seattle with her husband, DJ Alexander. They moved in 2017 when DJ, a professional football player, was traded to the Seattle Seahawks. She had given up her teaching career, but she held fast to her love of books.

During that first appointment, Gallagher brought up a program called Reach Out and Read, which gives books to children 6 months to 6 years old during well-child visits. Gallagher started the program in the Craniofacial Center as a novel program outside of primary care. In the Craniofacial Center, pediatricians encourage families to read aloud together as a way to promote language development, with an additional focus on children with craniofacial differences who may face additional challenges with speech. Although Alexander’s son was too young for the program at the time, she says she instantly knew she wanted to help Gallagher expand the program.

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