Mercer teen invited to speak at international cleft event to tell his story

Image caption

"It's kind of where the mouth and the upper palette in the lip here doesn't really form during pregnancy," Karenbauer said.

A young Chase was unaware that he would go through over a dozen more surgeries throughout his life, 14 of them to be exact.

"Every time you go in for a surgery you're like alright how's this one gonna do after post-op and it really takes a toll mentally really," Karenbauer said. "You kind of have to be mentally tough and gritty," he said.

Each surgery carried with it risks and uncertainties of their own.

"I had a major one that I can really remember when I was around 12 years old and they took bone from my hip and had to put it up on the roof of my mouth that one was pretty rigorous, I couldn't really walk for while," Karenbauer said.

However, now, this 16 year old is not only walking, he's wrestling and drawing from that strength he built mentally to tackle the challenges right in front of him.

"After I got cleared to run, I really had trained for years and years to get to where I am now especially and everyday it's a grind," Karenbauer said. "You've gotta have the mindset of you can do anything you set your mind to and I really wanna take the message that anybody can do anything and that a lot of cleft affected kids should get into sports or clubs or arts or anything that makes them more confident," he said.

Chase will be taking that message on the road to Cleft Con in Orlando, an international event hosted by Smile Train to bring awareness about cleft and empower those living with it.

"It's not a game changer whenever you think about it, it's really just an adversity step. as soon as you get past it and you understand it and you overcome, you really can set your mind to whatever," Karenbauer said.

Karenbauer still has a few surgeries left, but they won't get in his way! Cleft Con will take place on July 19th where he will share his story with the world.