The Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA) holds a conference each year which brings together parents, patients and health professionals affected by cleft lip and/or palate in the UK.

The conference, in London, was also an opportunity for CLAPA’s many volunteers and fundraisers to come together and join the discussion.

There are seven categories of award, including Volunteer of the Year, Superstar Fundraiser and the Extra Mile award for cleft health professionals.

Charlotte was delighted to win the Superstar Fundraiser Award.

‘I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the members of the public who have supported CLAPA and our fundraising, my many friends and especially my family,’ she said.

‘Without any of that support, I would not have won an award and CLAPA would not have been able to raise awareness, in the Isle of Man, of a condition that can affect one in 700 children. Raising awareness and supporting affected families are the ultimate aims.’

Oliver Hutchinson was born in April last year with a cleft lip and Alveolus. It meant that, very early in his life, he needed to go to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool for an operation. He will require more surgery when he is older when his second set of teeth are due.

Since Oliver was born, a further six babies in the Island have been born with a cleft and Charlotte, 35, said she was delighted that a support network was now in place and greater knowledge available to be shared.

Charlotte’s role as a parent contact is to give emotional support for parents and to direct them to the right people to talk to for medical advice.

Giving birth is an emotional time anyway, she explained, so when your child is born with a rare condition, it is important that there are others there to support you.

It is something the whole family has to deal with and, although it was a difficult time the experience has made the family bond even stronger for Charlotte, husband Mark and Oliver’s brother Thomas, now five.

A cleft lip or palate is a serious condition and can have many implications for the baby and the mother. Breast feeding becomes difficult if not impossible and even bottle feeding can require specialist equipment.

Depending on the type of condition, it can have other wide ranging effects, especially to do with the development of the mouth, and can also cause hearing and speech problems. Oliver will need another operation, taking a bone graft from his hip, to splice his gums when he is older.

Children born with a cleft palate normally face an operation between the nine-12 months stage, whereas those such as Oliver with a cleft lip are operated upon earlier.

Charlotte has now set up a Cleft Lip and Palate Isle of Man page on Facebook.

To make any donations or for more information about the work of CLAPA and the Happy Faces group, contact charlotte on charlottehutchinsoniom@gmail.com or 434369 or visit the CLAPA website www.clapa.com. 

All smiles: Charlotte receives her award.