Lizzie
Velasquez doesn’t just look different. She is different. And that’s why she’s
able to something that hardly any of us can.
Lizzie
was born with two rare conditions: Marfan syndrome and Lipodystrophy – this
means she’s not able to gain weight no matter what she eats. At 26 years old,
she weighed only 60lbs or 27kg. Her condition left her blind in one eye, she’s
visually impaired in the other. But there came a point that changed everything
for her.
At
age 17, Lizzie stumbled upon a video on YouTube of herself with the title: ‘The
World’s Ugliest Woman’. The video went viral almost instantly.
‘I
was shocked,’ Lizzie recalls, ‘but it wasn’t until I started to read the
comments that my stomach really sank.’ The comments included:
“Why would her parents
keep her?!”
“KILL it with fire”
“Who would want to get
married to THAT?”
Understandably,
Lizzie was devastated and cried for many, many days and nights. ‘When I was a
teenager I would look in the mirror and wish I could wash away my syndrome,’
she says. ‘I hated it because it caused so much pain in my life. Being a
young girl who is constantly picked on is unbearable.’
However,
she decided to make a change. The words and actions that hurt her became her
motivation to keep going. She made her own YouTube Channel and built a career
as a motivational speaker teaching others to be confident about themselves. Her
TED talk entitled ‘How do you define yourself?’ has almost 8 million views
right now and growing.
She
also managed to achieve one of her main life aims by getting engaged!
Her loving boyfriend surprised her with a romantic proposal and she said yes!
We
really recommend you hear her speak and tell her story. I’m stunned.
Recently,
she left people in awe once again. Her story was made into a movie and hit the
big screen. It’s called “Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story.” The director
of the film Sara Hirsh Bordo says that ‘it is not only about Velasquez’s story
but for everyone who has been bullied.’
You
can watch the amazing trailer here:
Lizzie
really defines herself by her tenacity and incredible strength, she is the
epitome of what real beauty is. Major respect to her and we wish her all the
best.
If you are inspired by Lizzie’s story, please share this to
your friends and family.
Source : upmoments.com