Jack Lawrence can finally smile after a miracle op!
Doctors gave Perth schoolboy Jack Lawrence the best Christmas present ever
Moments after giving birth, Linda Lawrence knew her firstborn child was in trouble, even before she noticed her otherwise perfectly formed newborn couldn’t open his mouth to breastfeed.
“He looked to have lockjaw to me,” recalls the Perth mum, tearfully, of the condition that saw Jack crying through gritted teeth because his jaw muscles would spasm and he couldn’t move his mouth.
She was devastated when doctors told her Jack would never be able to smile because he had a type of facial palsy. “I thought, ‘That’s stupid, of course babies smile,’” says Linda, 43.
The condition was confirmed as Moebius syndrome, where the muscles of the face that control expression don’t work.
“Jack can’t blink spontaneously and he can only move his eyes up and down,” says Linda, who also has children Grace, eight, and Henry, seven.
“He has never screwed up his face and cried, been able to show anger, frustration or happiness, and it’s all because he’s missing two of the 12 nerves that control facial features.”
But now, Jack’s well on his way to getting the smile he’s always dreamed of. He recently endured a nine-hour operation, after being inspired by a phone app that showed him how to superimpose the perfect smile onto his face.
Doctors took a muscle from his leg and put it into his jaw, and for two months afterwards the 11-yearold would stare into the mirror, willing his face muscles to move. Then, success!
“It feels pretty cool to be able to do what other people can do,” grins the pre-teen, who will undergo one more operation to complete his smile. “It’s all been worthwhile,” he says.