This is Zoe
Born in Shanxi China on 5/25/05
with 3rd degree cleft lip and
palate.  (Picture at Left taken at
about one month.) Adopted
6/19/07.

Diagnosed with Goldenhar
Syndrome 8/10/07.  
Zoe, at 23 months - just before
we went to travel to get her.
Note how the whole right side,
even her right eye, is smaller
Zoe, 24 months in China, a
week after meeting her,
just before we brought her
home.
Zoe, at 24 months - the
day we met her "Gotcha
Day".  Really shows
how much smaller her
right side is
Shows the fistula in her
cheek that leaks saliva,
most likely from the
parotid gland duct,
before surgery
Personality:

  • Zoe is one of the happiest children you would
    ever meet.  You can tell she is often in pain,
    but just plods through it.
  • She is a survivor!  
  • She fits in well with anyone, making herself
    right at home.
  • She is a "parrot" imitating every sound,
    gesture, facial expression, etc around her.
  • She is a very quick learner!
  • She loves life.
  • She lets you know what she wants/needs - a
    very good communicator (makes up her own
    signs, for example).
  • She wants to please.
  • She eats everything she can get her hands on
    ... we have to be careful about that! (By the
    way, cat food looks a lot like Cheerios to a
    small child apparently.)
  • She has skills we don't know how she
    acquired  (like she seems to know Kung Fu or
    something!)
  • We will spend a lifetime learning to discover
    who she is!  And loving it!!
Symptom list (currently known about):

  • she has a Limbal Dermoid cyst in each
    eye - on the bottom part of the iris,
    small and flesh colored.  Hard to
    capture in pictures as it is at/just below
    the lower lid.
  • preauricular skin fold - right side
  • microtia - right ear
  • multiple skin tags - both ears and
    preauricular
  • cheek fistula in the gland
  • repaired 3rd degree cleft lip and palate
  • all top teeth rotten, as are several on
    bottom
  • hearing loss - moderate
  • hemangioma on right side of lumbar
Shows the preauricular
skin fold , brachial arch
malformation, before surgery
October 29, 2007  Surgery

1. Tubes - to drain the fluid,
restore hearing loss and
eliminate the mastoiditis
2. Brachial arch malformation
removal - (the tags, pits and
bump on her right cheek in front
of her ear)
3. Parotid Gland Duct Fissure
closure - to stop the drainage
and potential of infection in her
left cheek
Copyright by Destiny's House Church
© 2006
Webmaster:  Beth Gore
Created:  November 2006
Last Updated: June 17, 2008
3 days after surgery
3 days after surgery
8 days after surgery, right
after stitches removed
6 months post surgery
6 months post surgery
I'm writing this page because when I was
researching Goldenhar, I found very few
photos of before and after surgeries or
photos as the kids age.  I wanted to have
an idea of what this would look like ... so
I decided to document this for others.

Beth ... mother to the amazing Zoe!
On her 3rd birthday.  Notice her
Ptosis is becoming more
prominent on her right eye at
times.   
Zoe's 3rd birthday party... what
a cutie pie!!  Notice her right jaw,
the difference is way more
pronounced than  a year ago.