Valley View —  Maddie Voelkel’s smile is a miracle to those who love her.

The Valley View second grader was born with congenital melanocytic nevus — a condition in which a part of the body is covered with a lesion made up of melanin-producing cells clumped together.

Similar to a greatly enlarged mole, a nevus can make life difficult for individuals who are born with the condition — limiting some movement and muscle function and, at times, drawing stares or thoughtless questions from strangers.

Maddie’s melanocytic nevus is on her face. It effects her nose, cheek muscles and mouth and has caused other problems for the little girl. Before her surgeries, Maddie’s condition left her unable to smile.

Maddie’s grandmother, Robin Voelkel who has loved and cared for Maddie since she was an infant and who is raising Maddie as her daughter, said she’s been an advocate for Maddie from the beginning.

The first step to getting treatment for Maddie was finding accurate medical information about nevi.

“This is considered a rare condition,” Voelkel said. “So there’s not very much information out there about it.”

Next, Voelkel took her daughter to several doctors before one of Maddie’s physicians referred her to Chicago reconstructive surgeon Dr. Bruce Bauer who  has performed a series of medical procedures on Maddie.

Her progress has been stunning.

Most of the lesion that hid Maddie’s face is gone and above all, Maddie can smile.

“Her smile means everything to me,” Voelkel said. “The surgeries helped bring that back. I know it’s a long process (to help restore Maddie’s face) but I can see the progress. If I talk about it, I’ll cry but I need to talk about it.”

The Voelkel’s community has also stood behind the family.

The Cooke County Fire Support and Rehab team held a pancake breakfast at First Baptist Church ROC building in Valley View Saturday to help pay expenses related to Maddie’s next surgery scheduled for Dec. 17 in Chicago.

“This fundraiser was set up to help gather funds so we can get to Chicago to go to the plastic surgeon that Maddie’s been going to,”  said Voelkel who is a rehab team member and former volunteer firefighter.

This isn’t the first time friends and family have helped Voelkel through a difficult time. There have been other fundraisers and countless acts of kindness on behalf of Maddie, she said.

“I want to thank everyone who has ever helped us along in our journey,” she said. “There are so many who help in the background and I couldn’t thank them all. I would leave someone out. I just hope that maybe, by reading this story, they’ll see themselves and know how much they mean to us.”

Voelkel said she and Maddie plan to take a passenger train to Chicago for Maddie’s next surgical procedure — just a week and a half before Christmas.

“We’re hoping for snow,” Voelkel said, “And we’re trying to be home for Christmas.”

She said she hopes the train journey adds a sense of adventure to what could otherwise be an unsettling experience for Maddie.

“ We hope to make the train ride a combination of Hogwarts (the school in the Harry Potter book series) and ‘The Polar Express,’” Voelkel said.

Maddie is happy and creative and loves to express herself by writing and drawing in a journal, her mother said.

“Nearly every day she writes about what her day was like,” Voelkel said.

Maddie also finds solace in horseback riding.

“She loves horses,” Voelkel said. “She can get on a horse and her whole demeanor changes.”

In addition to her supportive community, Maddie takes comfort in her friendship with her cousin, Hope Bartram, with whom she shares another bond.

Hope is recovering from a severe dog bite wound to her face and will likely undergo many of the same types of reconstructive surgeries Maddie’s gone through.

“They’re cousins and ‘best friends for ever,’” Voelkel said. “They understand a lot of what the other one is facing.”