BULLIED BOY, 7, ADOPTED A CAT WITH HIS CLEFT LIP AND EYES

A 7-year-old Oklahoma boy named Madden Humphries, who was bullied over his cleft lip and two different-colored eyes, adopted a rescue cat from Minnesota with the exact same features. Madden and Moon, as the cat came to be called, found each other after a friend posted the cat’s photo in a Facebook group for mothers of children with cleft lips.

By April 3, 2018, Madden, of Owasso, had a new sidekick. His mother, Christina Humphries, said she didn’t think luck had much to do with it.

“It sounds silly, but fate willed these two together. There’s no other explanation,” she told ABC7 New York.

Madden was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and complete heterochromia iridum, the condition that gives him differently colored eyes. Surgery later corrected the cleft lip and palate and left a scar, CBS News reported.

Classmates picked on him over the way he looked, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

In 2017, Madden had already gone viral for an anti-bullying video made with Owassoisms. Patch reported that the video covered both his visible and nonvisible differences.

“Don’t be mean to other people that are different,” Madden said in the clip. “We already been through a lot of hard stuff.”

He also had a blunt message for the bullies. “You’re missing out on a lot of awesome people if you’re being a poophead to them,” he said.

A cat found through a Facebook photo

The cat in the photo was a stray taken in by Mending Spirits Animal Rescue in Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Like Madden, he had a cleft lip and eyes that didn’t match.

USA Today reported that one of the cat’s eyes was blue and the other hazel. The rescue had been calling him Valentine until Madden gave him the name Moon.

The Humphries family traveled from Oklahoma to Mankato, Minnesota, to bring him home, with help from friends. Strangers chipped in too, according to CBS. USA Today reported that a donor covered the adoption fee, citing a post from the rescue.

“I’m stunned at how this all played out,” Christina said.

Inseparable since day one

Once Moon was home, Madden’s mood changed, his mother said. “Madden has been beaming.”

“I tell Madden all the time he is magical, and I think Moon helps him realize how special he is,” she said.

In her Love What Matters post, Christina wrote that the pair “were destined to be best friends.” She added: “Funny how a pet can make you feel less alone.”

“Everyone needs a friend, and everyone needs to feel understood,” she said. “I’m so thankful Madden has Moon.”

The family documented the duo’s adventures on an Instagram account called Madden and Moon, the Enquirer reported. USA Today said the account launched on March 24 and had more than 18,000 followers by the time of its story. Photos of the boy and his cat spread widely, and CBS reported that people around the world responded to their story.

According to ABC7, Christina said the two had been inseparable since Moon came home.