Smiling HIGH

When Sue Maughan's son was treated for a cleft palate and lip, she started a worldwide journey to challenge herself and raise funds for less fortunate babies

- KAREN EVENNETT

We all have a secret soft spot for certain baby pictures of our children, and one of Sue Maughan's favourites is a photo of her son Dan, taken as he lay across her shoulder.

'He's three months old in the picture, and so cute, says Sue, 54, a school alumni coordinator from Radlett, Hertfordshire. 'But I knew, when the picture was taken, that it was the last time he would ever look like that.'

Dan had been born with a cleft palate and his top lip split in two places. The photo was taken on the eve of an operation to repair his lip and help him feed more easily. When he came out of it, he would look completely different.

'I loved him so much just the way he was that I could entirely understand why some mums don't want to put their baby through surgery,' Sue says. 'But I had to think about Dan's future health and wellbeing - and this was the first of many procedures we knew he was going to need.'

Dan's problems were first identified on a routine scan when Sue was 20 weeks pregnant. 'Before that, neither I nor my husband Alistair knew much about clefts. My pregnancies with our daughters Holly and Abi had been problem-free. The girls were six and four years old when Dan was born, and learning that things were going to be different came as a shock.'