Having Moebius Syndrome is extremely rare, it makes me, me. I wouldn’t change it for the world. 

I was born in Livingston, Scotland. As a kid growing up my family always made me feel special and instilled in me that you can do anything that you put your mind to as long as you work hard. From a very young age I was fascinated with three things: Football (soccer), Professional wrestling and technology. I literally cannot breathe without those in my life daily. Today, at 28, I am a Project Manager in IT, play soccer regularly and wrestling is still a huge part of my life. I’ve known what I loved as long as I can remember.

From birth in 1990, my parents eventually found out I had Moebius Syndrome affecting my facial muscles, my eyes, and I have a clubbed foot. I had my smile surgery when I was six years old and again when I was seven, about a year between them. In 1996 and 1997, this surgery was very invasive taking around 11 hours each side. Then in the year after each operation, I had learn how to use the facial muscles. I remember having the bandage wrapped around my head for what seemed an eternity after the surgery, and the bruising on one side of my face looked huge and it was black and blue. My mum had to crunch all my food up so I could eat as I could barely open my mouth. At the time I had photographers from a magazine from France come over to my home to take photos of me living my life. They got photos of me playing soccer, practicing smiling, and my family and friends. Following that, surgeries were plentiful on my face, eyes and foot but I would never give up.

We all go through difficult times growing up and Moebius could definitely be seen as a difficult time. There are two approaches you can take: let it defeat you or you don’t. As Moebius Syndrome is from birth, the support of your family is beyond crucial. Growing up I had the best support I could have hoped for. I believe we are a product of our experiences and our childhood and I would not be where I am today if I didn’t have such a great upbringing. If you don’t let this defeat you then first you have to accept Moebius as a gift and once you do this figure out what makes you happy then go tunnel vision on making that happen. Live your life for you and don’t listen to external influences telling you why you can’t. 

If you or a loved one has Moebius Syndrome there are four points I would like to leave you with:

• Accept and love yourself for who you are.
• Give way more than you take and expect nothing in return, for expectations are a killer for happiness.
• People will always have opinions and will happily express them to us especially when it is as visible as Moebius. Never value their opinion of you more than you value your own opinion of you.
• Nothing is impossible. Our life is built only by the walls we surround ourselves with.