My name is Nathan Abbott, a now eighteen year old who was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate; fortunately, I was lucky enough to have been raised in an area of the world which was able to perform thorough reconstructive surgery in a successful attempt to reconstruct my broken smile. 

My life through school was made difficult by many obstacles:the primary concern being how people viewed me, I was bullied frequently and as a result became extremely self-conscious about the way I looked. Yet the visual aspect was not my only hindrance, the nature of having a facial deformity made it difficult to speak and eat- interfering with life from not only a social circle, but a personal one as well.

Eventually I decided that the pressure of everyday social life was too much, and in year 8 decided to be home-schooled. It was at this point that I adopted swimming as an alternative to curriculum P.E. and noticed that I possessed an affinity for being in and nearby the water. As a result I began to train more regularly, to the point that I was noticed by local swim coaches who applauded my natural talent and offered assistance to further my swimming ability.

To date I have had 28 reconstructive operations and as a young adult can now appreciate how fortunate I really am. However I have also come to the realization that what I suffered from is not isolated to parts of the world which can provide help, but less progressed parts as well. It made me question how some people can cope with such an ailment knowing that they likely will never be cured; which is why I have decided to support a charity which specialises in helping these people.

The charity that I've decided to support is: ‘Smile Train’, this charity provides resources to train doctors to perform cleft surgery for underprivileged children, as well as offering comprehensive care such as speech therapy and orthodontics to further their recovery.

So far this organisation has helped a huge amount of people in over 80 countries and has reached an enormous smilestone of repairing 1 million smiles, and I have decided to support this amazing cause. When I was 16 I raised just under £3000 via Justgiving and public donations by swimming from Littlehampton to Worthing and back- a distance of 15 miles, the following year when I was 17, I decided to swim from Greatham bridge to Littlehampton (a 15 mile river swim). To date I have raised just under £6000 including gift aid. These are the first of many major challenges that I have set myself and as such have begun to train avidly, fuelled by my passion and motivation to help those in the developing world. 

- UPDATED - 

I am now Smile Train's youth ambassador! 

2016 is a very important for me, I will be having my 30th operation (and hopefully the last) and I also hope to secure a place to study Veterinary Medicine at University. It is also a very important year for Smile Train UK as it is their 10th anniversary! This brings me to doing my next challenge and completely different from the previous events.

On the 11th of September I will be undertaking Ironman 70.3 Weymouth! This consists of a 1.2 mile swim / 56 mile cycle and 13.1 mile run, with no breaks between. Now, I have no previous running or cycling experience so I struggle to run/cycle a few miles let alone the distance of this half Ironman! Taking me out of the water is definitely outside my comfort zone. So watch my journey to becoming Ironman 70.3 READY! ( https://www.facebook.com/FreestyleForSmile/ )

Please donate and together we can reach the £10,000 goal, giving 66 children around the world, a second chance to smile.

Thank you for everyone who has donated and supported me, you're helping change children's lives around the world, giving them a second chance to Smile.