I have NF

I was born with Neurofibromatosis type one. I've had over a dozen surgeries to correct my birth defect, and I'm blind from my right eye. I couldn't have written it any less bluntly, but there's no other way of saying it. It's the truth, and there's no sugar coating. I recently turned 25 and have realized that despite having NF it does not define me by any means. Yes, my physical appearance is not typical but then again is there such a thing as 'normal' nowadays? For a long time, I used to think that having NF would prevent me from having a productive life due to not having a 'normal' physical appearance. I had my first surgery when I was 8 days old to relieve the pressure that Congenital Glaucoma caused due to  NF, and at 18 I had my seventeenth surgery to correct some bone growth abnormalities that once again was caused by my NF. When I was a little girl, I would pray to God that I would wake up one day and my face and right eye would be beautiful and even on both sides. I wanted to not have Neurofibormatosis because growing up with this disease was not easy and still now as an adult, I face difficulties that the average person does not and will never face.

During my school years, I was bullied not only for having a facial deformity but also for having a petite figure. In second grade a classmate of mine made a comment about my eye color and how ugly I looked. Since I had lost my eyesight in my right eye at a very young age, my eye color had drastically changed from being hazel to almost black. I have always had a small frame, and that has come at a price, I was once accused by a girl in one of my classes that I was anorexic because I was thin and she was not.
When I was in seventh grade, I received a note from several classmates that were folded in three, on the top flap it read " A closer look at Angela" when I opened the paper completely there was a drawing of a monster. I remember looking at the picture for a couple of seconds, and all I could hear was their giggling. I took the note and threw it in the garbage can; needless to say that as soon as school let out and my mom picked me up from school, I burst into tears. My years in middle school were the hardest years for me, I spent most of my sixth -eighth-grade years crying and not wanting to go to school. I looked forward to Fridays and hated Sundays. Thinking about it now still, makes me want to cry.
Once I reached high school I figured things would get better, and they did, but my peers still found ways to let me know that I was not part of their "clique." Thankfully, I had my older brother to protect me and make me feel better. I also met some of the best people in the world, I met people that today I consider family! They saw past my NF and saw the goofy, silly, sweet girl that I am ( that's how they describe me).

****** To Be continued******


PS
If anyone reads my blog, please let me know!! =) I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks