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Nov 26, 2009 9:34 pm US/Central
Barbour Family Has Reason To Smile At Thanksgiving
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A North Texas baby has reason to smile this Thanksgiving holiday. Six months after surgery to reconstruct his face, JT Barbour is learning to talk. JT had facial defects so rare, there are only four others like him in the world.
Doctors call his condition a Bilateral Tessier #4 Facial Cleft. JT's plastic surgeon, Dr. Sacha Obaid, said two clefts on both sides of JT's face went all the way up his cheeks, nose, eyelids and through his eyeballs.
JT is 13 months old now and has had three major surgeries under his belt. His next operation will be for cosmetic eye implants when he turns three. He'll have another major, facial reconstructive surgery when he turns five.
His father, John Laura, says "After every surgery, it's like a little more of him comes out. Now, since he has his mouth, he's been non-stop. Like, he's trying to get it all out at one time. Everything he's been holding in at one time? It's all coming out at one time."
His mother, Katie Barbour, already has a goal in mind for JT. "I don't know if he'll have a wife or kids. But, I just want him to be independent," she said.
JT is blind but his mother says there is nothing wrong with his brain or his hearing. As his father asks him, "Where's your head? Where's your head?" JT immediately pats his head with both of his little hands.
Katie Barbour doesn't know what caused JT's defects. But, she believes he was born to her for a reason. "He was a blessing. That's the way I look at it. Just a different kind of blessing. A beautiful blessing. I love him. He's beautiful to me no matter what," she said.
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