A young girl who used to look decades older than she is due to a rare condition has received a ‘new’ face following years of bullying.
The 15-year-old teen who goes under the pseudonym Xiao Feng has opened up about her condition that causes her skin to be wrinkly and claimed she was bullied terribly for it at the school.
As Shenyang Sunline Plastic Surgery Hospital specialists confirmed, Feng was born with a rare, one in 8 million, genetic condition that results in the affected person aging prematurely.
Fortunately, the girl’s condition didn’t affect her organs but only her skin. However, her wrinkly face that made her look like a grandmother caused a series of problems of its own.
Fortunately, Good Samaritans were able to raise over $25,000 to help the girl afford life-changing surgery in which surgeons removed the excess skin from Feng’s face.
In addition, the Shenyang Sunline Plastic Surgery Hospital decided to cancel all of the girl’s bills and do the surgery for free in order to use the donated funds for further research of the girl’s condition.
“Today is the happiest day for my daughter,” Wang Hongde, the girl’s father, said after Feng’s first public appearance following the surgery.
“The night after Xiao Feng’s surgery was the night when I slept the soundest because I believed that doctors could cure my daughter’s condition and help her live and study happily in the future.”
Before the life-changing surgery, Feng made a heartbreaking statement saying: “Nobody wants to play with me, and only pigeons are willing to accompany me because they won’t dislike me or think I am ugly.”
She also reached out to a local philanthropist Guo Mingyi who helped her get in touch with specialists at Sunline and raise funds for the surgery.
“When she was in her primary school, she was often mistaken for ‘the parents of pupils’ and whenever she went to the town with her mother, people would surround them, look at them and discuss about them,” Mr. Hongde, a farmer, added in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Now, the 15-year-old girl finally feels like a high school student and is no longer afraid to show her face in the public.
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Replaced!