Project Molly’s Eyes {A Cleft Lip & Palate and Alopecia Portrait Collection}

Molly: spunky, smart and absolutely radiant.  She’s my youngest child and the inspiration behind this photography project, Molly’s Eyes.  Molly was born with a severe unilateral cleft lip and bilateral palate.  The cause of this was purely genetic, from me.  Unknown and undetected until Molly’s birth so was the profound impact she would have on my life.  Growing up with a cleft lip and palate myself was challenging for many reasons.  I remember being told throughout my life what beautiful eyes I had.  Although I always thought it was a nice comment, I was never able to fully absorb it.  I always assumed people were just trying to be kind to the poor girl with a facial “defect”.  Then Molly was born.  Ask anybody who knows her, she’s a spitting image of me.  Yes, Molly has a cleft lip and palate like me and from me, but she also got something else, truly beautiful eyes.  It’s Molly’s eyes that made me take another look through and back into mine.

I want to use photography as a vehicle to raise awareness by showing the true beauty of the children that are affected by cleft lip & palate.  For the first time in my life, I feel like Molly’s and my cleft lip and palate is a gift.  I now have the remarkable opportunity to educate, share and give support.   So, if you or someone you know is between the ages of 0-18 and has a CL&P, I’d love to photograph him or her on their journey with no strings attached.  Receive a 20 minute session near the town of Stillwater with ~10 digital, full resolution images. I plan to do roughly 3 of these sessions per year.  I am also happy to be a mentor for parents with babies affected by CL&P. There are a lot of challenges to overcome both physically and emotionally for parent and child, and sometimes it’s nice to communicate with someone who has been there both as a parent and child.

***Update: At about age 5 Molly was diagnosed with moderate alopecia.  In the fall of 2018 at age 8, she experienced a sever flare and lost all of her hair on her body.  Molly’s heart is enormous.  She has asked to broaden PME to include children struggling with alopecia as well.

Please contact me through this site’s contact form or abbeysteffl@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Abbey

Here’s Molly first smile caught by the camera!  She has her lip taped and an oral appliance in.    This is Molly a day before her first surgery to repair her lip.

Taken during her first birthday shoot.  She’s my little Valentine.  Born on Feb. 14

Below are recent images from the Project Molly’s Eyes event in Jan. 2019.