Taking Center Stage: A Mother and Son's Journey

myFace, myStory

On this month’s myFace, myStory podcast, host Dina Zuckerberg is joined by Leah Riman, who will share her journey from when her son, Logan, was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, blindness and other challenges to the music prodigy he is today. At the age of 2, Logan started playing the piano and he has played on some of the greatest stages including Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. Logan is her greatest joy and Leah is his greatest champion.

- [Announcer] Welcome to "myFace, myStory," voices from the craniofacial community, with your host, Dina Zuckerberg.

- That was Logan on the piano. Today we'll be talking to Leah Riman, Logan's mom, about her journey and Logan's passion for music. Hello, and welcome to "myFace, myStory," voices from the craniofacial community. Whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on Apple Podcasts, click subscribe now, so you'll never miss a future episode. And if you're a fan of "myFace, myStory," rate and review the program on Apple Podcast so that we can get a message of inclusivity and empowerment to more people. I'm your host, Dina Zuckerberg, the Director of Family Programs at myFace. I was born with a cleft lip, a hearing loss, and no vision in my left eye. "myFace, myStory," is about people like us being seen and heard. About sharing stories within the craniofacial community, and with others. Today, I will be joined by Leah Riman, and we will hear from her son, Logan, on the piano. At the age of 19, Logan is a musical prodigy and has been playing the piano since the age of two. Born with a bilateral cleft lip and palette, microphthalmia, a rare eye condition where a person is born without eyes, resulting in blindness and other challenges. Logan's whole world revolves around music, and he plays everything from classical, to show tunes, to today's greatest hits. Besides piano, Logan also plays the drum, plays guitar, and tap dances. Logan has performed on some of the greatest stages in the world, and as he says, "he's just getting started." He is inspired by the powerful words of Helen Keller, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." And also the words of Hans Christian Anderson, "Where words fail, music speaks." Recently graduating high school, he is currently trying to find a placement in a musical conservatory or program on a college level where he can continue to study what he loves, music. Leah Riman is a property manager in a the New York City area, who holds a master's degree in audiology, and whose dream it was to earn her PhD in cochlear implantation, when life took her in a very different direction. Her greatest achievement in life is her son, Logan. And she's proudly watching him accomplish what she was told he would never be able to accomplish. She is his greatest cheerleader, advocate, and supporter. Welcome, Leah, I really look forward to our conversation.

- Hi Dina, thank you so much for having us.

- Yes. So take us back to the day Logan was born.

- So Logan is my Thanksgiving baby, and yeah, he was born via C-section. So 10:40 AM you know, first-time mom, nervous, excited, and you know, you wait for that cry that you're supposed to hear and then, you know, everything is kind of okay. And my heart's beating and I hear the cry and I'm like, okay. And then I hear the doctor say, "oh, we have a cleft lip, it's only cosmetic." And I'm like, "oh, oh, cleft lip, okay." Well, I went to school, so I know it's not only cosmetic, but okay, that's the least of my, you know, anything. He's here, he's okay, he's okay. Cleft lip, we'll figure it out. And then everybody's hush, hush, quiet, quiet, you know, and there's that big curtain in front of you. So I don't know what's going on. And then nobody's really saying anything to me. And then I'm like, "well, can I see him? Can I see him? Can I see him?" And they finally like, shown him to me and put him by my shoulder. And I'm like, "oh, why are his eyes closed?" And nobody's saying anything. I'm like, "why are his eyes closed?" And they quickly, like, literally, took him away and they're like, "oh, it's normal. Sometimes babies are born and their eyes are closed for 24 to 48 hours." And that was it. And as I'm still being worked on and sewn up and all that, my blood pressure starts to rise crazy. And I start having very bad reaction, you know, 'cause I'm stressing. And they like, knocked me back out, you know what I mean? They put me out 'cause I started reacting not very well. Yeah, that's not quite how I expected it to go, but yeah.

- So what was your reaction and what went through your mind when you then heard, so you said you heard that he was born with a cleft lip and palette, but when you found out that he had no eyes?

- I didn't find out about the no eyes for probably a couple of days because he was taken to a different hospital. He was moved and I wasn't moved with him. And it was Thanksgiving weekend. Doctors were, you know, it wasn't a full staff or whatever it is. And that wasn't, I didn't know anything, put it that way. And nobody was telling me anything because again, my stress level was on another level, you know what I mean? And I just wasn't reacting well at all. And I asked if I could be moved. They kept saying no. I literally early, checked out after a C-section, which probably isn't advisable, but to get to him, you know? And still, eyes were closed. I wasn't, I honestly wasn't thinking, no eyes. I don't know what I was thinking, but it wasn't no eyes. I didn't know what to concentrate. You see your baby in this little thing with a whole bunch of tubes and I didn't even like, the way, speechless as I am right now, that's kind of how I was, staring at him right there, you know? But I was next to him, so I was already calmer.

- Right.

- And the first thing I remember, when I did come up to him, he pulled out his tube, you know, and they're like, "oh, we're gonna feed him, we're gonna feed him." But again, he wasn't eating from anything. But when I got there, he pulled out his tube. I dunno, I took that as like a weird, like, he knew I was there, you know? And still, it was a couple of days after that, I think it was that Monday after, I guess, Thanksgiving weekend where they had the ophthalmologist come out. And you know like, in the movies when they start talking to you and giving you some kind of news and everything in the background goes slow motion?

- Mm Hm.

- As the doctor is telling me, you know, "I'm sorry," and like, "your son is never gonna see, he has no eyes."

- Wow.

- It's like, the world was going slow motion.

- Wow.

- And I was like, I wasn't comprehending what he was saying. And I'm like, "oh, okay," you know, "take my eyes," you know, "when can we do this?" And he's like, "that's not how it works. There's so many nerve endings, we can transplant almost anything, not eyes." And I was like, the cleft wasn't even an issue at that point.

- Right, right.

- It's a whole different ballgame at this point, you know? So yeah, that was, that's our birth story.

- Wow.

- You know? Yeah.

- So what did the doctors tell you once, I mean, what did they say?

- So they didn't know what it was because he had several anomalies. The microphthalmia, he had ear pits, which I know are connected to kidneys. He had a heart murmur.

- Yeah, uh huh.

- He had something called anal stenosis, and the cleft. So there must be a syndrome associated with it. They didn't know right away if he had a brain, was it a functional brain, what it was gonna be. And the best that they could say is "he may not walk, he may not talk, he may not be able to feed himself. We don't know," you know? That's kind of what I was left with. "We don't know, he has something, but we don't know what," so yeah, that was-

- Yeah. My parents took me to a neurologist, so I couldn't hear when I was born, but they didn't do hearing tests those days. So my parents took me to a neurologist when I was three 'cause I wasn't talking, I wasn't communicating. And the doctor said something along the lines, similar, you know, and that I may not be able to talk, I may not be able to play the piano, I forget what it was I could play.

- Right, right.

- And clearly, they didn't get that right. But I think it was because I basically didn't hear anything, so I wasn't reacting.

- Right, of course.

- But it's crazy how they didn't do a hearing test in those days. Now, they do it automatically when a baby is born. So I can relate a little bit to that, and I'm sure my parents could, yeah.

- Yeah, so I went to school for this, so I was familiar with the whole newborn hearing screening and all that. But when it's your child on there and they're like, oh, we have to do the screening, I'm like, "what? What do you have to do?" I was completely like, in a fog, you know?

- Wow, yeah, I'm sure.

- So yeah.

- So how many surgeries has Logan had?

- So we've been actually very, very lucky that we got, you know, Dr. Cunning. And he had one very long surgery, but he did have it. And they were able to repair everything at once. And anything else that he made, like, I get recommendations, you know, from those, "oh, well, you should get him," like, "fix his nose. He's got a very bulbous nose and he's of the age, and you can do that." And if it's not medically necessary-

- Right.

- I'm not doing it, I'm just not doing it, you know? So I'm happy with the way things are, thankful that he only had to endure one surgery.

- Right.

- And that's it. We got very lucky.

- Good, so I know he graduated high school in June, which is very exciting. And you must be so proud of him. What was school like for him?

- Oy, so school, school was never easy. Logan never quite had the proper setting for him. He was either too advanced or too delayed for a program. So he was kind of bouncing around, you know? And so fairly early on, they said that he's possibly on the spectrum, which is something that I actually fought that diagnosis his whole life. So he went into a school for kids who have autism, where it was quickly realized by the educators that he didn't belong there because, and he was being underserved. And then it took me time to get him into a school with a vision program. But now he was, we were kind of playing catch up 'cause now he missed a whole year, you know what I mean? So that's kind of how it went. It was very hard to get him all the services that he needed, to be in place. Speech being number one, like yourself, he wasn't talking. He was past three years old, you know what I mean?

- Right.

- So that was the big one. And here I am, fighting for five days a week of speech. And then he's got every therapy you can imagine, you know, at this point.

- Right.

- But again, it's very hard. He went to public school and it's very hard because therapists change out, by the time one gets to know him, you know what I mean? They're out, the next one comes in and they gotta start all over again. So it's like taking, you know, one step forward, 10 steps back, always.

- Right.

- So that was hard for us in school, you know, and academics never came easy.

- Right.

- But if it involved music, he was a completely different kid.

- Mm.

- Yeah.

- So speaking of music, when did you realize that Logan had a talent for playing the piano?

- Right away, it's one of those miraculous things where it was evident when he was a baby, a baby, baby.

- Wow.

- Music somehow, always, you know, we had an appointment maybe three, four, five times a week, be it for the cleft, be it for the eyes, be it for trying to figure out what else he had going on. And I always used to put like, baby Einsteins, you know, they had like the music and stuff. So I used to take that along everywhere we went. And it literally, maybe I couldn't soothe him as much as the music did, you know? And it was very evident. So I literally would walk into Babies R Us, or Buybuy BABY, whatever it was. And I would close my eyes and I would touch any toy, that if a sound came out, if music came out, if it rattled, if it vibrated, if it's saying anything, I wanted him to have it. So he had his selection, and whatever worked to calm him, you know, we got.

- Right.

- And so it was evident. Anything that had music he loved. So we knew it right away.

- Wow, wow.

- Yeah.

- So how does Logan approach learning new songs without relying on visual cues? And how does he memorize complex musical compositions without the aid of sheet music or other visual cues?

- So we did, he does know braille music.

- Okay.

- Just to be an overall rounded, well, good musician. He knows it, but anything he hears, he can play right after hearing it, you know what I mean? He'll hear the whole thing-

- Amazing.

- And then he brings up a little, it's honestly amazing. I watch him do it and I don't know how, I don't know how. I've tried playing "Happy Birthday," which is a little tiny song, can't do it. Can't do it, can't.

- Right.

- So I don't know. I don't know, but yeah.

- And did he have any training when he was little? Or did he just literally could see the music or hear the song and play it without any formal training?

- So when he was little, little, it was repeating songs, like "Mary Had a Little Lamb," or the "ABC" song, he would repeat, I had keyboards all over the place, you know? And then as he was getting older, I tried to get a teacher, you know, to work with him. I literally put ads in the paper for somebody to work with him. But A, he was tiny, he was five years old. They're like, "oh, he's not mature enough." And he probably wasn't, but it was hard. And they were afraid to be too strict with him, and that's something that was needed, you know? And so no, until, I think he was eight, is when we found the most amazing school. It's called FMDG Music School, for the blind and visually impaired. And that teacher opened up a whole new world to Logan. You know, he went from playing "ABC" to Mozart, you know what I mean? So they found a way to work with him. They found a way that worked for him, and they were able to teach him. And what he's accomplished there? More than he's accomplished through 12 years of schooling, honestly, you know?

- Does it bring him joy, you know?

- Absolutely, his face changes when he's playing music. It's like, you know, for him, communication is very difficult, you know what I mean? He doesn't have a lot of social, so he doesn't socialize a lot, you know what I mean?

- Right.

- And so when he does try to say something, not everybody understands him, but when he starts playing for you, you understand everything you need to understand, you know exactly what he's saying to you. And it's not even something that I can explain. You just see his demeanor changes, everything changes. And it's like, it gives him life, you know what I mean?

- Amazing, yeah.

- Yeah.

- So what was it like for you? I know he performed in the myFace Talent Show, what was that like for you, to see him perform in the on stage for that?

- So anytime that I can see him on stage, it brings me like the most, the proudest moments are always when he's honestly, on stage because he's there on his own merits. You know what I mean, he earned that. And I think like, I think it was maybe the second time, but he played "Perfect Symphony," and-

- Oh, right, yeah.

- I actually wanted him to play that because seeing the year before, all the kids, you know, them all together, they did make up the perfect symphony. They were perfect, exactly as they were. You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- And I don't know, I just kind of loved it, even though the words don't match what I'm saying. But that's the feeling I get when that song is on. And it was amazing, honestly. It was amazing for him to get to do that with them.

- It was an amazing moment. And I remember when Wyatt took him off of the stage.

- Yes, yes. And that's another thing, you know, again, like I told you socially, things are difficult for Logan, but then there's kids who have been through or know kind of like, what he's going through, and they gravitate towards him, and they're there to help him.

- Right.

- You know, in a way that maybe somebody else who wasn't in his position would, you know? So to see that, just that alone, and it's incredible.

- So to our audience, I hope that you are enjoying this episode of "myFace, myStory," whether it's your first time joining us, or you've been with us since the beginning, make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube and Apple Podcast channels, and sign up for our mailing list at myface.org/mystory. So what is it like to see Logan play on some of the greatest stages, from Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall in Madison Square Gardens, which is amazing.

- So bringing it back to when he was little, you know, I'm very guilty of perhaps pushing his stroller while he's still facing me, a little longer than the average mom would. And maybe putting on a bigger bucket hat when we took him to the park, you know, to avoid the stares and-

- Right.

- People literally putting their baby onto a swing one over from us, as if they can catch whatever it is they think Logan has, honestly, you know? So it went from stop looking at my kid, to his name in big bright lights at Radio City Music Hall, you know, look at my kid, that's my kid, look at my kid, you know?

- Uh huh, yeah.

- So that's what I get, that's where we are now, you know?

- So I know he got to play with one of my favorite performers, which is Billy Joel, tell us about that.

- That was honestly amazing. That was one of the most unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that Logan had. So he was playing, when he played Radio City, it was for a talent show also, for a foundation, Garden of Dreams. And in the thing he was known as Logan Piano Man, you know? And after that, he played "Love Story," which is a very meaningful song to us, because he is my love story. That is my whole life, you know, I'm gonna get emotional, but anyway, so he played it and they were like, "oh, well, he's piano man. Well, would you like to come listen to 'Piano Man' at the Garden?" And we were like, "sure." They're like, "well, does Logan know any of his songs?" And I said, "no, we can learn." So we obviously, learned, we, he obviously, learned "Piano Man," and we got to listen to soundcheck.

- Okay.

- And like, we had a whole video prepared to show just in case. But then he took it a whole different step further and came down, introduced himself to Logan. And it was really, really sweet and innocent. And this is what I love about Logan. He was like, "Logan, I hear you like to play the piano. What do you like to play?" And Logan's like, "Piano Man," by Billy Joel, like, not even realizing, you know, like, it's Billy Joe in front of you, you know? And he's like, "well, would you like to play my piano?" And he invited him on stage and Logan got to play with him. And you have to understand the acoustics in an empty Madison Square garden, like 22,000 seats. I was like, I was shaking. I couldn't believe that this was happening. You know what I mean? And one thing I will never forget is what he said to me. He's like, "oh, he learns this all by ear?" And I'm like, "yeah," he's like, "you have to understand, there's a very small difference between magic and music, and this, what you're seeing is magic."

- Wow.

- And it really was, it really, really was.

- Amazing. That's such an amazing moment.

- Yes.

- So who is your and Logan's favorite performer, and why? Do you have one?

- Yeah, so hands down, it's Andrea Bocelli. Very early on, I think, Logan must have been not even two years old, I read his memoir. And he has a very fascinating life also. Like, I don't know if you know, or a lot of people know, he was actually an attorney, he went to school for law.

- Wow.

- Yeah. But his whole life was music also, you know? He wanted to be an opera singer, and he kept getting the door shut in his face also, hence pursuing law. And everything was a no, no, no. But his parents and his family, they fought to get him where, you know, they didn't take no for an answer. And so he honestly, every time we got a no, and I was like, okay, well this guy did it. And now, he is the world's most famous tenor and the most incredible, you know, entertainer. And that's kind of like, he got me through so many moments. And it might sound silly, like somebody you don't know and somebody whose parents you don't know. But that gave me strength to every time, okay, so you're telling me no over here, so we're gonna go over here, you know?

- Right, right.

- Until we get a yes, somebody's gonna open the door. And that's kind of like, where we are now, in terms of schooling, in terms of other things that, you know, we try to get done. So yeah, it's Andrea Bocelli. He used to do like, these PBS specials.

- Yes, I've seen them.

- 'Cause we'd get phone calls all the time, "Oh, Andrea Bocelli's on, watch, watch, watch." And I would watch it in tears, you know? And I was like, "stop calling me, call me when Logan's on one of these things," you know? But I took it to heart and I needed to watch that. And when we finally got to see him live, I bawled the entire show. But we haven't stopped-

- And you've seen him year after year, right?

- Yes, yes, yes, every year. And honestly, it is my favorite day of the year, it is. He's so powerful, and then just knowing his story and what it took to get him there.

- Right.

- You know, and he wasn't 15, 20, 25 when all this happened, you know what I mean? He was well up there. Gives me hope that one day Logan will be somebody's Bocelli, and we will be watching it, you know, the same way so that's-

- I have no doubt. I have no doubt, yeah.

- I hope, I hope.

- Yeah, so what do you think are some of the best unique qualities about Logan?

- Logan is very innocent, you know? He's very innocent, he is very loving. And I don't know if unique or not, but he's very loving. He's very sensitive, you know? He doesn't have that influence of everything that's going on in the world affecting him in the way that you and I do. And he's also very intuitive, you know? He knows when somebody wishes him well, and thinks of him and looks at him as him. And when somebody might not have the best intentions or doesn't really, you know, care too much for him. And that was true when he was little, he would literally exit a room if he felt somebody, you know, thought maybe something of him. And I always found that to be very interesting. Like, how does he know? But you know, the sixth sense or whatever it is, it's there.

- Right, right.

- So yeah.

- So speaking of negative comments or not, but what are some of the things people have said about Logan? How have you handled it?

- Not very well. Not very well, I'll be completely honest. Especially, when he was little. Besides the staring, you know, and people don't always know what to say, and I get it. People are also, could be fearful of the unknown and what they don't understand.

- Right.

- And that's okay. But you looked at him once. You looked at him twice. You looked at him three times. Unless you can help him in some way, stop.

- Right. You know? And when he was younger, and I'm still actually, not even when he was younger, I'm still very, you know, alert to people's stares and glances and things that they say, you know? But I would literally, I would be confrontational. I'm like, "what is it you're looking at? Do you wanna ask me something, or if not, stop," you know?

- Right, right.

- Why put your baby a seat away from him? What is it you think is gonna happen? And I never understood that, you know? And that's why I'm very conscious if there's something that I'm not understanding or something where I do a double take, I'm so conscious of not making somebody feel the way we felt. And that's something that I never wanted him to feel. You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- So if you ask Logan, who's the handsomest, he's gonna say him. If you ask him who's the smartest, he's gonna say him. Who's the best, he's gonna say him, because every day I remind him of that. So if anybody anywhere, ever tells him different, "well Mom said, I'm the smartest, and I'm the handsomest," you know? "So you're wrong."

- I love that, yeah.

- So yeah.

- I love that.

- Thank you.

- So why is being a part of a community, like myFace or Garden of Dreams so important to you?

- You know, there's probably less than a handful of places, besides being home, where I feel that I can totally put my guard down and not worry about what somebody's saying about him, what somebody's thinking about him, somebody's devaluing him or seeing him less than what he actually is, you know? And it's in a place, like all the events that you guys host, when he's around everybody, I know that nobody's judging him.

- Right.

- You, of all people. You know, I tell people all the time when they're like, "oh, well you should have done this," or "he could have been more independent than this." I'm like, "do me a favor, walk in my shoes one day, and then give me your opinion," in this situation. And being at any one of your events or in this community, we are all wearing the same shoes.

- Right.

- The size may be a little different, you know, the direction that we choose to walk in might be a little different, but we all know how the other feels and what the other is going through, you know? And that is where I feel the most safe and no judgment on any level. And that's such a comforting feeling that we need, especially after day, after day, after day of having to kind of be like on guard all the time, you know what I mean?

- Right, right.

- So that's why this is, it's crucial to have a community like this and grateful that you do what you do to bring us all together, you know?

- Thank you, yeah. I always say, and it's so true, and people have heard me say it all the time, but there's power in the shared story and knowing you're not alone. And that community and knowing that, even for me, has been a game changer.

- Of course.

- 'Cause it's just, you think, oh wait, I'm not the only one who feels this way or has dealt with that so.

- Yeah, thank you.

- What message, let me see, what message or inspiration do you hope Logan's music conveys to an audience, especially considering his perspective as a blind musician?

- What message? So he is online, right, on Instagram. And since people have come across his profile and read his story, and I've actually gotten messages from all around the world, you know, that he, in some way or another has gotten them to pick up an instrument that they haven't played in 10 years. I get people who tell me very, very, like, intimate details about their lives, you know? Oh, I'm here, I'm getting chemotherapy, watching videos. You know, they bring me comfort, you know what I mean? Or I lost my job and literally came home and what, but it's like the craziest thing, people I don't know, that I've never spoken to, they write to him, they write to me, you know? So he has a way of reaching an audience just because we are so transparent.

- Right.

- Listen, not everything is great every single day, you know what I mean? And we show that part as well, you know? So I think people gravitate towards honesty, towards that transparency. And somehow he brings them some sort of comfort also, you know, through his music.

- Right.

- They're thinking they have something difficult that they're going through, but then they're watching him achieve something that, you know, he was also told he was never gonna do. So that gives them hope that they'll be able to do it also, you know? So I guess that's pretty much it, yeah.

- Yeah, hope is such a important thing. And when somebody has hope, it can change your whole life. And so Logan brings hope to lots of people.

- Yes, he brings me hope too, you know?

- Oh, absolutely.

- It's not just other people, it's me too, so yeah.

- Yeah. So knowing what you know now, what is one thing you would tell your younger self?

- Hmm, that it's gonna be okay. It's not gonna be easy, but it's gonna be okay. And literally, you have to take it day by day. You can't, you know, 10 years from now, where am I gonna be, 20 years from now, what is he gonna do? There is that essay that somebody sent me fairly early on. I think it was "Welcome to Holland?"

- Right.

- Do you know that essay?

- I have heard this one.

- Yes, that's exactly, that's exactly what it is. And it's about having a child with a disability. And it's like your whole life, you're planning this extravagant trip to Italy and how it's gonna be and how you want it to be. And you get the guidebooks and plan all these tours, and then the plane lands and they're like, "welcome to Holland." And you're like, "what am I doing in Holland," you know? And it's very true, if you, you know, he still did all the cute things, babies did, and he's doing, you know, he reaches his milestones in his own way. And right away, when everything is thrown at you all at once, you know, it's not easy, day by day. Day by day, and things will be okay, you know? And I say that to myself now also 'cause I'm like, "well, what is he gonna do in terms of work?" And is he ever gonna get into a school? And what happens when I'm old and gray? And, you know, so gotta take it day by day and hope for the best.

- Absolutely. Well, who knew that Logan would be where he is now? And I have no doubt where he's gonna be in years to come. And I will say, it is truly a testament to you, as his mom, for what you have, you've believed in him, and like you said, he brings joy to so many. And I've witnessed your devotion and dedication to Logan, and you truly are his greatest cheerleader, advocate, and supporter. I've witnessed it every day. So I have no doubt that Logan will go far with you by his side.

- Thank you so much.

- And we look forward to Logan's performance at our annual holiday party on Friday, December 15th, where he will play a variety of holiday songs on piano.

- Yes. He's getting ready, he's getting ready, so we're excited. Thank you Dina.

- So thank you, thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Leah and Logan are an inspiration to me, and everyone they meet. Everyone has a story, and I'm hopeful, that by sharing stories like hers, we can create a kinder world. For more than 70 years, myFace has been dedicated to changing the faces and transforming the lives of children and adults with facial differences by providing access to holistic, comprehensive care, education, resources, and support that paved the way for better outcomes. To learn more, please visit myface.org. If you would like to learn more about myFace support groups so that you can get connected with others in the craniofacial community, please visit myface.org/online-groups. Be sure to subscribe to "myFace, myStory," on your favorite podcast app, and on YouTube to get notified of our next episode. If you'd like to receive email reminders of new episodes, sign up at myface.org/mystory. That's myface.org/mystory. Thank you for joining us for this episode of "myFace, myStory." Remember, it takes courage to share your story, so be brave and speak out. Please stick around for a final performance and a message from Logan. Thank you.

- Happy holidays everyone.

- Hi, I'm Stephanie Paul, the Executive Director of myFace. myFace is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to changing the faces and transforming the lives of children and adults with facial differences. We do this through various programs and events such as the Transforming Lives Educational Webinar Series, Races for Faces, the Wonder Project, and the groundbreaking, "myFace, myStory" conversational series. You can learn more about all of these on our website at myface.org. If you enjoyed today's program, we hope you'll consider making a donation to help keep programs like this possible, as well as to further the support of the craniofacial community. Thank you.