LACEY BUCHANAN

It all started when…

Lacey Buchanan was 21 years old when she learned that she was pregnant. Christian's hands are his eyes. When we first met, he instinctually felt his way across the living room and reached up to feel my face before introducing himself in his uniquely inquisitive high-pitched voice. At age 7, the young karate aficionado and camera enthusiast has had as many media appearances as he has surgeries. 

Christian was born with a rare case of  Tessier Cleft Lip and Palate, estimated to be one of fifty recorded cases in the world. While cleft lip and palate is the second most common congenital physical deformity, Tessier facial clefts are more severe and less common. While in utero, Christian's clefts formed a distinct V pattern from the edges of his lips to the bottom of his eyelids. As a result his eyes never developed. This left an area of raw tissue where the iris and pupil would have been. Christian's first surgery was at age four, one of many over the course of his month-long NICU stay. 

Read a letter from Christian and his grandmother below: