When you’re a teenager, it’s easy to hone in on little things that make you different. For many, the desire to be “normal” is so strong because it means you’ll move through adolescence with more ease.
Everyone has something about them that makes them unique, and usually, as you grow older, you start to embrace it rather than cover it up. However, for some, it’s not so easy to cover up that thing that sets them apart. Instead, they are forced to face the world of teenage judgment head on.
Such is the case for 19-year-old Ciera Swaringen of Rockwell, North Carolina, who was born with birthmarks that cover more than two-thirds of her body. It’s a rare skin condition called Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevus, which essentially means you were born with large birthmarks that cover a significant portion of your body. It only affects one out of every 500,000 people, so by definition it makes Swaringen very special.
However, because it’s such a visible condition, it also makes her stand out in a crowd. Naturally, this was a challenge for Swaringen growing up, especially with other children who didn’t understand her condition and just saw her as different. She toldthe Daily Mail, “Teenage boys are usually the first ones to comment when they see me. They say things like, ‘You look like you’re dirty, take a wash.’”
“That really knocked my confidence, I was only young and it made me feel different to the other kids, like something was wrong with me.” And who could blame her? Wearing braces was enough to make me feel insecure as a kid — I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have something that you can’t take off.
Fuente: www.yahoo.com
