FACES HISTORY

​In the late 1960s, FACES: The National Craniofacial Association began as the Debbie Fox Foundation. Debbie, a young girl from Soddy Daisy, TN, was born in 1955 with a facial cleft.
 
Debbie saw many doctors and surgeons, but in 1969, Dr. Milton Edgerton, a Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Medical Center surgeon, agreed to build a face for Debbie.
 
Debbie's teacher, Madge Apple, started the foundation to help pay for Debbie's travel expenses to Baltimore. In her memoir, A Face For Me,  Debbie said, "Much later, Mrs. Apple told me that she pushed me and drove me so hard because she knew, even then, that I had a future." Madge Apple proved the impact that a teacher could have in a student's life.
 
Debbie truly believed in her life's purpose: "Whatever path I choose, I know that God would want me to serve and give to others..."

The foundation created on Debbie's behalf grew, underwent a few name changes, and began to benefit children and adults from all over the United States. In 1997, the organization officially became FACES: The National Craniofacial Association.

Though Debbie Fox Harwood passed away in February 2020, her legacy lives on.