Today, nose plugs are decorations for Emilio Bedoya, kept as a reminder of how his life has forever changed.

On Dec. 22, a team of volunteers performed surgery on Emilio's completely cleft palate, a condition that is almost unheard of in an American 14-year-old, but common in undeveloped countries. Because of the cleft, Emilio had a deep echo and slur when he spoke, which caused problems in school. Emilio was intensely shy.

Today, that has changed.

"I can talk now in class," said Emilio on a recent day, interviewed at the Orem apartment he shares with his family.

Born in Ecuador, Emilio suffered a botched surgery after birth to fix his cleft, and was later bitten by a dog, which damaged his palate further. Because of his cleft, Emilio has always been a quiet child, and still is, but that is beginning to change, said Gerry Tuft, Emilio's science teacher.

"I do think he is speaking better," Tuft said. "He's a great kid, with a great personality."

Asked to describe how Emilio's life has changed, his older sister, Jackie, said one day she called the family home and mistook Emilio for their sister when he answered the phone, something that could never have happened before the surgery. For starters, Emilio would not have answered the phone. So shy he used to be, he would not even go to a store to buy a treat unless one of his siblings would come with him to speak to the cashier.

Today, Emilio is in speech therapy at Lakeridge Junior High, where he practices saying words like "cake."

"It's boring," Emilio said with a typical teenage weariness.

He even gave an oral report in school, another thing he would never have done before the surgery.

"I talked about what kind of weapons they use in World War II," he said.

He has even played a Beginning Bank concert at school, and will play another in upcoming weeks, without a nose plug. Officials at Lakeridge Junior High initially noticed something was amiss when Emilio began wearing a nose clip to music class. Using a nose plug was the only way he could play the clarinet so the air did not escape out his nose.

Now, his family jokes that he keeps his left-over nose plugs as decoration. He does keep one, as a reminder of how far he has come.

"The change was amazing," said Emilio's mother, Julia Bedoya, speaking through a translator. "He is so secure in himself now. I am so proud of him."

Marco Bedoya, Emilio's father, said he used to lose sleep worrying about his son's future. Not anymore.

"He will have a normal future," Marco Bedoya said.

Dr. Charles Stewart of the Hirsche Smiles Foundation performed Emilio's surgery with the help of other volunteers. Stewart is now working with the Bedoya family to get braces to fix Emilio's teeth.

"We've said thank you to him many times, and we are so grateful, to the core of our beings," Julia Bedoya said of Dr. Stewart. "He has renewed us. He has renewed Emilio's life."

Emilio's parents said they hope Emilio's story will encourage Utah County residents to support the work of the Hirsche Smile Foundation, which performs cleft palate and other surgeries on the indigent in third-world countries.

One in every 700 newborns worldwide is affected by this condition, which occurs when the natural opening in the roof of the mouth does not fuse, according to the American Pregnancy Association Web site. Cleft lips and cleft palates are the fourth most common birth defect in the U.S., but in almost all cases they are surgically treated very early in life.

Hirsche Smile officials said they hope Emilio's case can bring attention to the plight of tens of thousands of children in Latin America who never get the medical attention for their cleft palates that is both routine and taken for granted in the U.S.

The Hirsche Smiles Foundation was started in 1990 by Blayne L. Hirsche, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and Michael Chandler, an anesthesiologist, both affiliated with Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. The group takes doctors and dentists to Latin America two or more times a year to treat children with birth defects that are easily repaired in the U.S. but may never be treated when families with no access to health care.

The group relies on donations to buy surgical and medical supplies and hygiene kits. Using volunteer doctors and nurses who pay their own way on humanitarian medical trips to Latin America, it costs the Hirsche Smiles foundation only $265 for the supplies necessary to fix a cleft palate, said foundation officials.

For information about Hirsche Smiles, visit www.HirscheSmiles.org. Donations can be made in the name of Hirsche Smiles at any branch of the Bank of American Fork.