Kim Maddox’s granddaughter, Ariel, was born with cleft lip and palate.
A pediatrician told Kim that Ariel would die because she had so much trouble eating.
This is Maddox’s story, as told to Kelly Burch.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Maddox. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When my granddaughter Ariel was born, she came home to my house. My son and Ariel’s mother knew that caring for their new baby would be a massive challenge: Ariel had been diagnosed with cleft lip and palate by ultrasound.
From the beginning of Ariel’s life, I have been her primary caregiver. I learned how to feed her with special bottles that had an extended nipple and reached all the way to the back of her throat. Still, when she ate, formula would spill from her nose and mouth; we were lucky if half of what we fed Ariel made it into her tiny belly.
One day my husband called me, panicking. He was at the pediatrician with Ariel’s mom. The pediatrician told them that Ariel wasn’t gaining weight and that she was going to die. I left work and flew to the pediatrician, but when I got there the doctor told me to calm down. I saw red. I’d just been told my baby was dying, and they had the nerve to tell me to calm down? I told her she was fired, and I took Ariel to the emergency room.
Meet Mellody Hobson, the Starbucks chair — and wife of George Lucas — who’s about to become a part-owner of the Denver Broncos
Hobson was raised in Chicago and attended Princeton University, where she studied at the school of international relations and public policy. She graduated in 1991 and started a job with investment firm Ariel Investments, where she’d interned during college.
Hobson, who grew up bouncing between apartments and frequently experienced evictions, told Vanity Fair that she was “desperate” to understand money. “I felt like financial security would be the biggest gift I could ever have, ever,” she said. Since then, Hobson has become a recognized financial literacy expert — during the financial crisis, she hosted an ABC show about how to manage your money.
In 2000, Ariel’s founder, John Rogers, named Hobson president of the firm. In the meantime, she started a philanthropic organization — a public school on Chicago’s South Side — and began working toward increasing corporate diversity with a conference for Black corporate directors.
Hobson was named Ariel’s co-CEO in 2019. By then, she’d already served on multiple company boards, including Estée Lauder, DreamWorks Animation, Groupon, and Starbucks. In 2020, she was named chair of Starbucks’ board, making her one of the highest-profile Black board chairs in the US.
Hobson earned Princeton’s highest honor for undergraduates, the Woodrow Wilson Award, in 2019 — one year later, the university named a new residential college after her, the first to be named after a Black woman.
In 2005, Hobson met “Star Wars” creator George Lucas — eight years later, they were married at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. “We have the same values … By values, I mean what’s right and what society expects of us,” Hobson told Vanity Fair.
The couple held the star-studded wedding, as well as a lavish party at Promontory Point in Chicago. Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Samuel L. Jackson, Harrison Ford, and Robin Williams all helped celebrate their union, Vanity Fair reported.
Prince even performed at the party in Chicago. “When George and I got married and we planned our wedding reception, we reached out to ask him if he’d be willing to play,” Hobson said in 2016. “And much to our shock and sheer delight, he said yes!”
About two months after their wedding, the couple welcomed a daughter via surrogate, Everest Hobson Lucas.
These days, Hobson’s firm, Ariel Investments, has $17.8 billion in assets under management, and Hobson is a significant shareholder in the company — her stake is worth tens of millions of dollars, Vanity Fair reports. For his part, Lucas is worth an estimated $6.5 billion, due in large part to the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. The couple signed the Giving Pledge with the goal of improving education.
In June 2022, Hobson joined the ownership group buying the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion — Rob Walton, a Walmart heir and former board chairman, is leading the group. “Beyond her role at Ariel, Mellody is an influential leader in corporate and civic organizations across the nation,” Walton said in a statement announcing the deal. “We know she will bring her strategic acumen and leadership perspective to our team.”
While other Black women — including Venus and Serena Williams — have held limited stakes in NFL franchises, Hobson is the first to be identified as being part of an original ownership group buying a team, The Athletic reports. “What a tremendous accomplishment and what a gift to be able to do what she’s going to be able to do,” Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson told the website.
13/13 SLIDES
I started driving 15 hours for better care
At the ER, doctors weighed Ariel and reassured me that she wasn’t dying. The doctor told me we were doing everything right, but that we just had to do it more often. Ariel’s feeds took about an hour and a half, and we had to feed her every two hours.
I was so relieved, but that experience with the pediatrician showed me I would need to be very active in Ariel’s care. Before that, I had tried to do research, but I hadn’t known where to start. Our new pediatrician told us to get in touch with Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Ohio. It was a 15-hour drive from our home in Georgia, but once you’ve heard somebody say your child is dying, it doesn’t matter how far you have to drive.
Ariel had her first surgery at Shriner’s when she was 3 months old to correct her lip cleft. Formula still came out of her nose when she ate, but it was a much smaller amount. When we walked through the door for a follow-up appointment, the doctor said Ariel was a perfect weight. After that, I knew she would be OK.
Now, Ariel is thriving
Since then, Ariel has had more surgeries. Today, she’s a typical 4-year-old who loves telling stories, playing ball, and swimming. When you look at her, you wouldn’t even know she had cleft lip and palate. She has the tiniest lisp when she’s tired or excited, but the doctors say she’ll grow out of it.
My heart breaks for other parents and caregivers who are where I was in those early days: knowing they need help, but not knowing where to turn. Now, Ariel and I have a personalized support team at Shriners. When I call, they put me right through to anyone I need to talk to, whether it’s a nutritionist or a therapist.
I tell other parents to remember why they’re advocating. Ariel empowered me. This is about my grandbaby, my angel. No one is going to tell me whether she lives or dies. If you give up on her, as that pediatrician did, you’re not worth having around. I’ll find someone who moves heaven and earth to make sure she’s alive and thriving.