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Tayla Clement, 26, was born with a rare disorder that has made it unattainable for her to smile — however she says she is grateful for it.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Clement has Moebius syndrome, a neurological illness that impacts one baby out of each 50,000 to 500,000 born, analysis exhibits.
Moebius happens when a child’s facial nerves are underdeveloped. The main results are facial paralysis and inhibited eye motion, however the situation can even trigger problem with speech, swallowing and chewing, in keeping with Johns Hopkins.
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“The syndrome affects my sixth and seventh cranial nerve, so it’s essentially like facial paralysis,” Clement advised Fox News Digital in an interview.
It additionally means Clement can’t transfer her eyebrows or higher lip — and can’t shift her eyes back and forth.
Tayla Clement, born and raised in New Zealand, has Moebius syndrome, a neurological illness that impacts one baby out of each 50,000 to 500,000. (Tayla Clement)
Dr. Juliann Paolicchi, a pediatric neurologist and the director of pediatric epilepsy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York, has handled a number of infants with Moebius syndrome. (He was not concerned in Clement’s care.)
“Infants born with the syndrome may have a lopsided face, may not be able to form a smile, and may have feeding problems early in life,” he advised Fox News Digital.
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They can even expertise orthopedic anomalies, equivalent to irregular improvement of the fingers and ft.
“Other parts of the face and eyes may be affected, such as a small jaw, cleft palate and smaller-sized eyes,” Paolicchi added.
Growing up with out the power to smile introduced loads of challenges for Clement, who mentioned she was bullied for years — “for as long as I can remember,” she advised Fox News Digital. (Tayla Clement)
While kids with Moebius syndrome wouldn’t have issues with mental improvement, social conditions will be a problem resulting from a decreased means to show feelings with the face, Paolicchi mentioned.
“They are often mistaken as being sad or overly serious, when they are simply just not able to smile,” he mentioned.
‘Quite isolating’
Growing up with out the power to smile introduced loads of challenges for Clement, she mentioned.
She was born in 1997, earlier than the arrival of social media, so she wasn’t in a position to join with others going through the identical problem.
“With the syndrome being super rare and also coming from a small country, it was quite isolating,” she mentioned.
“As an 11-year-old girl, I thought, if I could just smile, I would have friends and wouldn’t get bullied anymore.”
Clement mentioned she was bullied for years, “for as long as I can remember.”
“It started off as verbal bullying — being told that I was ugly or worthless, or being isolated and not having any friends.”
Clement is pictured at 11 years outdated after present process facial surgical procedure, which was in the end unsuccessful. (Tayla Clement)
Things received worse when Clement was 11, after she had a main operation in an try and appropriate her lack of ability to smile.
During the “invasive” nine-hour surgical procedure, docs took tissue from her proper thigh and inserted it internally into the corners of her mouth and into her temples.
“The idea was that when I would clench down on my jaw, the tissue that was planted would pull the corners of my mouth up to mimic a normal smile,” she recalled to Fox News Digital.
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Paolicchi confirmed that corrective surgical procedure is usually carried out on infants and youngsters with Moebius syndrome.
“This is a complicated and specialized procedure.”
“The procedure, called the ‘smile’ surgery, helps not only appearance, but the ability to smile and to be able to pronounce words more clearly,” he mentioned.
“This procedure does involve transferring portions of the person’s own muscle to the face and connecting it to the working nerves of the face. This is a complicated and specialized procedure and should only be performed by surgeons skilled in the procedure.”
Clement is pictured quickly after receiving main surgical procedure at 11 years outdated. “The procedure, called the ‘smile’ surgery, helps not only appearance, but the ability to smile and to be able to pronounce words more clearly,” a physician mentioned. (Tayla Clement)
The surgical procedure does include dangers. Clement famous that there was a “very fine line” between tightening the realm an excessive amount of — which would depart her with a everlasting smile — and leaving it too unfastened and never seeing any outcomes in any respect.
“As an 11-year-old girl, I thought, if I could just smile, I would have friends and wouldn’t get bullied anymore. So I jumped at the opportunity,” she mentioned.
“I just chose to believe in myself — and that I was destined for something bigger.”
The surgical procedure was unsuccessful — leaving Clement scarred and “completely broken,” she mentioned.
“It was such a horrible time for me,” she mentioned. “But looking back on it now, I couldn’t be more grateful for the surgery being unsuccessful. I think it was all supposed to happen that way.”
Reaching a breaking level
After the operation, the bullying received worse. In addition to calling Clement names, college students pushed her into lockers, ripped off her backpack and threw her objects on the ground, she mentioned.
“That got here with a lot of psychological well being challenges,” she mentioned. “For much of my childhood, I was quite depressed and anxious.”
While Clement’s household supplied her with loads of love and help — “they’re the reason why I’m still here,” she mentioned — they did not know the way dangerous issues actually had been.
While Clement’s household supplied her with loads of love and help — “they’re the reason why I’m still here,” she mentioned — they did not know the way dangerous issues actually had been. Clement is pictured right here together with her mom. (Tayla Clement)
“When I was younger, I never told my parents about what I was going through with the bullying,” Clement mentioned.
“There are still some things that I probably won’t ever tell them about, because I don’t want them to feel sad or upset,” she went on. “I know they would feel like they could have done something, but there’s nothing they could have done.”
In 2015, throughout her senior yr of highschool, Clement started collapsing and experiencing seizures.
During her senior yr of highschool, Clement started collapsing and experiencing seizures. The subsequent yr, she was identified with excessive medical melancholy and nervousness, together with post-traumatic stress disorder. (Tayla Clement)
The subsequent yr, at 18, she was identified with excessive medical melancholy and nervousness, together with post-traumatic stress disorder, she mentioned.
“Because I had been through so much stress and trauma, my brain was kind of shutting down,” she mentioned. “The seizures were like a physical form of how much I was struggling internally.”
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At the time, docs and specialists advised Clement that she would have seizures for the remainder of her life, and that she’d at all times be depending on different individuals.
But she was decided to show them incorrect.
Intensive remedy performed a large half in her restoration, she mentioned.
After her prognosis, Clement underwent intensive remedy, which she mentioned performed a large half in her restoration.
She discovered herself at a “crossroads,” she mentioned, the place she had to decide on between engaged on her psychological and bodily well being and placing herself into a higher area, or persevering with to really feel “unhappy and miserable.”
Clement selected the primary path — though it wasn’t simple.
“There were days when I just wanted to give up. I didn’t want to do life anymore because it was so hard,” she mentioned.
In her position as a sports activities content material creator and host, Clement has leveraged her love of rugby into a “new lease on life — a real purpose,” she mentioned.
“I learned quite quickly that the only person who can truly help you is yourself.”
Clement “worked tirelessly,” persevering with with remedy, studying many self-help books and adopting wholesome each day routines.
“I just chose to believe in myself — and that I was destined for something bigger,” she mentioned.
Saved by a new ardour
As it turned out, the “something bigger” was a new profession in sports activities.
Clement had at all times been a large sports activities fan — with a explicit love of rugby, which may be very well-liked in New Zealand.
In March 2023, she began creating social media content material round rugby and motorsports. The Chiefs, a skilled rugby union crew in New Zealand, gave Clement her first alternative.
Since getting into the rugby scene, Clement has labored to “bring inclusion” into the game, with a purpose of “inspiring, empowering and advocating for positive change.” (Tayla Clement)
This yr, Clement interviewed gamers from 4 of the Super Rugby Pacific groups, together with a number of the finest gamers on this planet, equivalent to two-time World Rugby Player of the Year Beauden Barrett.
In her position as a sports activities content material creator and host, Clement mentioned she’s leveraged her love of rugby into a “new lease on life — a real purpose.”
Since getting into the rugby scene, she has labored to “bring inclusion” into the game, with a purpose of “inspiring, empowering and advocating for positive change.”
Clement can be aiming, she mentioned, to assist different sports activities organizations incorporate extra inclusion into their groups.
“I’ve known from a young age that I’m meant to help people,” Clement advised Fox News Digital. “Using my story and my voice to advocate for others and make the sports arena more inclusive makes me so happy. And I’m just getting started.”
‘Grateful for all of it’
It has been three years since Clement skilled a collapse or seizure, she advised Fox News Digital.
“I’m living a life I truly never could have dreamed of,” she mentioned. “I’m doing a job that I absolutely love, and I just did not think this level of happiness and contentment was accessible or attainable for me … It’s been a long journey, and I’m very grateful for all of it.”
This yr, Clement has interviewed gamers from 4 of the Super Rugby Pacific groups, together with a number of the finest gamers on this planet. (Tayla Clement)
Clement has additionally used her platform to attach with different individuals who have syndromes or disabilities. Her mission is to teach others about deal with youthful individuals who really feel like they’re “not seen or heard” — whether or not that’s within the sports activities area or on a regular basis life.
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“I really needed someone like my present self when I was younger,” she mentioned. “It’s a full-circle moment to be there for other people now.”
Despite the “dark times” she’s skilled, Clement mentioned that being born with Moebius syndrome and never having the ability to smile has turned out to be “the greatest gift.”
Clement mentioned she goals to assist different sports activities organizations incorporate extra inclusion into their groups. “I’ve known from a young age that I’m meant to help people,” she mentioned. (Tayla Clement)
“We’re all born different and unique,” she mentioned. “It has given me the opportunity to use my voice and to be proud of my differences.”
“Being alive is such a gift, and it’s a special thing to be born with Moebius syndrome. It doesn’t make us any less worthy, beautiful or amazing.”
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Even although she can’t smile within the conventional sense, Clement says she has her personal model.
“I think everyone’s smile is different, just like everyone else is different,” she mentioned.
“I just smile in my own way.”
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