Somerset/Welsh Fire batter Tom Kohler-Cadmore on becoming a new father Now he’s applying that experience to raising awareness of cleft lip and palate. Their son Dougie was born the first week of August. After being diagnosed with this condition during a 20-week pregnancy scan, this began Kohler-Cadmore and partner Melissa Avison’s journey into parenthood as well as raising awareness and support for other parents battling prenatal diagnosis.
When Avison first heard the news about Dougie’s condition she experienced an almost uncontrollable wave of panic. She described her initial reaction: “Naively I don’t know anyone with one so I didn’t really know what to expect, I didn’t know what that meant, I didn’t know what it entailed. In that moment, I panicked and ran to Google. What I really needed to understand was what this would mean for the trajectory of his life and the struggles he may have to navigate.
In the weeks since Dougie’s delivery, the now family of three has been transitioning to life as new parents. Dougie needed a special bottle for his feeds because of his cleft lip and palate. The family prepares for several tough surgeries ahead. Dougie will have two surgeries next year—one to reconstruct Dougie’s cleft lip and hard palate and another surgery on his soft palate a few months later. Due to the extensive damage, another procedure will be necessary down the line to repair his gum.
As The Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA) reveals one of the most incredible facts. Nearly one in every 700 babies around the world is born with a cleft. Kohler-Cadmore has welcomed the chance to raise awareness about this under diagnosed condition, explaining how crucial visibility can be in his sport. He sports a bright orange CLAPA sticker on his bat proudly during games. It’s most noticeable at The Hundred, T20 Blast, and County Championship.
“The more time you’re out in the middle the more exposure there is for the charity,” said Kohler-Cadmore. He expressed how meaningful it has been for him to help raise awareness about cleft conditions: “To me that’s meant so much being able to help raise a little bit of awareness.”
Melissa Avison liked hearing from the hundreds of people who reached out to share the same experience. She remarked on the support they have received: “I’ve had loads of messages from other people who are going through or had similar stories – whether it’s someone with a cleft lip, or had a cleft lip as a child, or having one of their children have it, reaching out to give us support or say thank you very much for raising awareness.”
Kohler-Cadmore and Avison are enjoying every second of their new adventure as parents. They are sincerely appreciative for the essential resources that CLAPA has provided, which have been instrumental in allowing them to deal. “We’ve had so much help from the charities and medical staff and actually then it didn’t seem quite so daunting,” Avison stated.
Kohler-Cadmore emphasized that he finds motivation in his performance as a cricketer, understanding the impact it has on raising awareness: “It’s a big motivation of mine to bat a long time and score a lot of runs because if I’m in the changing room then they’re not seeing any of the sticker.”
Join Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Melissa Avison as they share the highs and lows of new parenthood while adapting to life with Dougie. Beyond that, they’re passionate about telling their story to help others who find themselves in the same situation they did. Besides such excellent clinical practice, they are deeply committed to awareness-raising for cleft lip and palate. Their work reminds us all of the tremendous power that exists in togetherness and understanding.
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