Daniel and Anna Hoppes grew up like twins at only five months apart in age, both adopted from China by Bruce and Lori Hoppes as young children, and haring similar diagnoses – cleft lips and palates.
The Hoppes brought Anna home when she was 18 months old and at the time, she had a full open cleft lip and palate. “We 
reached out to friends of ours who had a son with a cleft for advice,” Lori remembered. “They encouraged us. They told us about Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic and that was how we became aware that services like the Clinic even existed.” Bruce and Lori connected with the Clinic before they even brought Anna home and scheduled her first appointment.
Anna had her first surgery – a lip repair – on her second birthday. Since then, she has had numerous sets of ear tubes, and undergone palate surgery, pharyngeal flap surgery, a bone graft, a nose repair, and finally a jaw reconstruction, after which she reached a fully functional face and aesthetic smile, making her treatment complete.
The Hoppes brought Daniel home when he was two-and-a-half. He’d had a lip repair and some work on his palate while in China, but a lot of it had to be redone. His bilateral cleft was severe and required a complicated approach, including a jaw distraction surgery following high school involving rods that had to be rotated slightly each day to inch his top jaw forward. As a specialist in this surgery, Dr. Cathy Henry developed a clear path forward with treatment. “It was quite extensive but everything healed very well,” Lori shared.
Daniel and Anna never felt isolated during their journeys and grew closer together through their experiences. “I never had to do anything alone,” Anna shared. “Whenever my brother and I would have appointments or surgeries, we could do them together. We’d plan them that way. Our processes were different but we could discuss our experiences.”
Daniel expressed his deep gratitude for Dr. Henry and that he had always been able to place his full trust in her. Anna shared that she’d been with Dr. Thomas Samson for as long as she could remember, and that she always received direct communication and intentional support from her team. “Everyone at the Clinic is reassuring,” she said. “They do treat you like family.”
The siblings’ unique opportunity to complete their cleft journeys together brought peace to Bruce and Lori, and the Clinic did as well. “Our minds and hearts were at ease,” Lori said. “There’s so much support, expertise, and wisdom there. We not only had peace but a sense of belonging and family.”
That’s one reason why Bruce and Lori moved Heaven and earth – shifting schedules, coordinating rides, taking off work – to ensure that their children made it to each appointment, even though it was a two-hour drive from their home to the Clinic. “Everyone at the Clinic worked together to help my children develop inner strength to conquer the next medical procedure,” said Lori. “The care went so far beyond just appearance. It’s so much deeper.”
“It’s definitely not easy having to go through all the procedures and doctors’ appointments, but it’s worth it in the end,” Anna reflected. Sharing experiences didn’t stop after their time at the Clinic concluded. Now, the siblings are both students at Bloomsburg University. Daniel will graduate this December with a degree in digital forensics and hopes to join the Air Force or law enforcement, and Anna, who is in her junior year, is majoring in early education.
“Ultimately,” Lori shared, “our prayer for our children is that they will be all that God has created them to be, walk in confidence, humility, and grace, and that they’ve developed a compassion to sense when others are struggling and share
their journeys with whoever God brings into their paths.” Their resilience birthed in them a passion for supporting and encouraging others. Daniel and Anna’s futures are as bright as their smiles!
