A BALFRON man has completed a marathon in Iceland for a charity that treats people with a cleft lip.

Nick Savva and his wife Jill were delighted when they found out they were expecting their third child three years ago. Having had two girls Nick was not so secretly hoping for a boy to make their family complete.

At the twenty-week scan the couple were overjoyed to find out that the baby was a boy but their happiness soon turned to shock when it was confirmed at a later scan that he had a cleft lip.

Baby Nicky was born in December 2013 and had surgery to repair his cleft the following April, Nick Said: “The NHS cleft team at Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow were amazing. We met with the entire team  of experts who were going to look after baby Nicky. The team included, nurses, surgeons, orthodontic, speech and hearing specialists. They explained in detail what was going to happen.”

When researching the condition, Nick realised how lucky Nicky was to get this treatment all for free on the NHS, Nick said: “We were so privileged. Many are not so lucky. There are millions of children in developing countries with untreated clefts who live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate.”

Nick discovered Smile Train UK, a charity which provides the surgery in over 85 developing countries, and decided to take on the Reykjavik marathon for it. His aim was to raise awareness and £1,000 for the cause. He took part in the race on August 20 and completed the 26 mile course in just over 4 hours, smashing his fundraising goal in the process. To date nearly £2,500 has been raised which will go towards the cost of surgery. Each operation costs under £200 so this will allow more than 10 children to have the life changing treatment.