Georgina Chaska Malone Is Going the Distance for Smile Train

Nineteen-year-old Georgina Chaska Malone of Northumberland was born with a cleft and has just completed the Great North Run — her first long-distance race — for Smile Train’s Team EMPOWER. This is her remarkable story, in her own words.

Chaska means ‘bright star’ in Quechua, my mother’s native language. It’s how she always referred to me growing up, which ended up being quite fitting, as she would say through all my treatment and time in the hospital that I was a star.

My having a cleft wasn’t easy on her. Whenever she talks about it, she cries. When I was born, she spoke little to no English, for she had just come from Peru. She had no idea what a cleft palate was or why I had it, and neither did the doctors. She felt like it was her fault, that she did it to me or that she was the reason I was born with a cleft.

I know that’s not true, but she carried that burden for a long time. In a way, we still don’t really know why I was born with it. But I’m okay with not knowing.

My cleft team looked after my mother, too, walking her though everything, showing her ways to look after me, and generally just being there for her. And my dad was there for both of us. Tedious as it was to teach a baby how to speak, eat, drink, and just generally live, my father was there helping me and my mother through everything.

After my surgery, he even had to re-teach me to blow my nose. This apparently took forever. I can do that, but I can’t blow up balloons. Haven’t mastered that yet. I attended speech therapy and hearing therapy, as well as countless other check-ups and appointments. I like to have my soups lukewarm and ‘hot’ chocolate warm-ish. My palate and mouth in general are quite sensitive to heat.

I never felt that different to others growing up. Because only my palate is cleft, not my lip, I never looked different, not on the outside. It wasn’t until around secondary school that I became more aware, and so did others, that I was born with a ‘hole in the mouth’. That was the only way I could describe it to my peers. There would be moments when teachers would try and explain what it was to the class and they it wouldn’t be correct. It infuriated me; how could they not know? I felt embarrassed and looked at, like a frog in a science lesson. However, looking back on it now, clefts are not well known about. I still have moments where I need to show and explain what it is and that’s okay. As long as people are willing to learn.

I would say I was quite energetic as a child. Riding bikes, dancing, singing, all types of sports and music, but I’ve never been a long-distance runner. Always preferred the 200m on sports day. I saw an advert for the Great North Run last year and thought to have a look. After having a scroll through, I saw that you could run for a charity and found Smile Train.

Instantly, I knew I wanted to run for them no matter how far it was.

Smile Train inspired me because I really do want people to be more aware and more willing to learn about clefts. I’m incredibly grateful to my parents, and I want more clarity for all parents on why they’re caused. It’s important that those with clefts help people understand what it is they have, instead of accepting being looked at weirdly or having misinformation spread. It can be really damaging.

There’s so much about clefts that we do not know. How they impact the brain and the rest of the body. That is something that I would love to investigate in the future. I’m taking psychology at university in hopes to someday find myself working with Smile Train.

I was excited before the run. Nervous, but excited. The training was hard but enjoyable. It made me emotional to think that my mother was going to be standing there waiting for me when I crossed the finish line, knowing what I just did and what I just did it for.

When I arrived at the station on the day of the race, there were runners everywhere, in addition to people dressed up in costumes, family, and friends. At the time, it felt quite overwhelming, but when I look back on it, it was incredible. So many people there running for their own causes and their own stories. When I was at the start line, however, I felt quite alone and nervous. This lady next to me smiled at me and made me feel better. Just one simple smile really boosted my confidence and reminded me what I was running for.

It was raining at the start and that wasn’t pleasant, of course, but I did enjoy the community it brought: Multiple ladies made it their job to hand out jumpers and tops people had left on the gates to us so we could stay a little dry before having to run. At that moment, everyone was the same. All doing the same 13.1 miles, we were all equal. But at the same time, all with our own reasons, struggles, stories, motivations. It’s hard to describe, but the feeling of joy was so immense.

After mile nine, it really started to become hard. I called my boyfriend crying saying I couldn’t do it; I was so overwhelmed and in pain. And he said, ‘You are over halfway! Be proud of yourself, you’re doing so well!’

I cried a little bit, gave myself a small pep talk, put on my favourite song, and kept going. Whilst I was running, I realised that (for me) it was more of a mental battle than it was a physical battle. I knew that physically I could run a half marathon. But mentally, it felt like I couldn’t. I’m very much a person who stresses about a lot of things, and I would say I’m quite a negative thinker when it comes to accomplishing anything. I found I was telling myself that I couldn’t do it and that I should just stop doing that. Hearing someone else say that I can actually do it made me snap back into the run.

I crossed the finish line. And there was my mother, standing there waiting for me with the biggest, proudest smile.

I felt that it went quite well considering I had never done a half marathon before. I’m really proud of myself for finishing and for even running to start with.

I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to run for Smile Train. It not only means a lot to me and my family, but to others who have experienced the same struggles and might feel they are all alone.

As soon as I got home, I signed up for the Kent 10km in October with Team EMPOWER. This is definitely something I want to keep doing in the future.

My advice to others who have a cleft is that you are still human; you’re still you. ‘Hole’ or no ‘hole’, it doesn’t change you as a person inside. Others may judge and humiliate, but they’re uneducated, uninformed, and they don’t appreciate the amount of courage and strength you have to get through something like this. Be kind to yourself.