SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — A Sevierville elementary school teacher is hoping to find help for a student with a cleft palate. Cierra Folino, from Sevierville Primary School, said she began to notice in the cafeteria that Olvin Jafeth Valle Flores wasn't able to eat tough food.
"I teach kindergarten, I have 20 students currently in my class. We, kindergarteners, teachers — we teach all subjects so they're with us all day long," Folino said.
She continued to monitor her 6-year-old student and even tried to consult other teachers around her.
"He couldn't blow the whistle," Folino said. "He was having trouble. We noticed him eating in the cafeteria, he couldn't eat the food that we had, that we were serving him. It was too hard, and then like drinking water, just out of a water bottle, it would kind of come back out of his nose."
When she finally communicated with his mother, she found out Flores was struggling because of a cleft palate.
"This is affecting his speech as well," Folino said. "So that also ties in with his confidence. If nobody knows what he's saying, he starts to kind of shut down."
Folino said she began looking for someone who could help. Dania Flores, Olvis' mom, said they have only been in the country for less than a year and Folino said without insurance, getting a surgery seemed impossible.
Folino emailed a bunch of medical groups in Knoxville, but she said only Trillium Plastic Surgery got back to her and wanted to help. But one of the surgeons, Jason Hall said, it wasn't possible.
"It is a palate that's been operated on before," Hall said. "So, this is a very complicated cleft lip and palate case that really needs a team approach for that child to get the best care."
Right now, surgery for Flores is in limbo and his mother said they're still waiting to see what's going to happen. Cierra said the feeling of being unable to help your own child is heartbreaking, and she hopes she will find a way to help.
If anyone has information on how to help, they can contact Folino at cierrafolino@sevier.org.
"I just hope that he knows someone cared about me," Folino said. "Someone helped me and I hope he continues to get better and he can grow and become more confident and flourish in life."