British Zara Harshorn grew up as a sweet, smiling girl, until at the age of 10 she suddenly began to age rapidly. Doctors diagnosed lipodystrophy, a disease that affects the subcutaneous fatty tissue and is accompanied by an accelerated growth of the outer layers of the skin.
And they added that there are no cures. The disease is hereditary, the nature of its occurrence is unclear. Like, it remains only to reconcile and accept their fate. But how to accept when peers call them “old woman” and “monkey”, and passengers in the transport make way for you?
- I was the embodiment of the movie "Benjamin Button" in reality, just exactly the opposite. In the film, the hero was getting younger, and when I was young, I was getting old,”grins Zara.“And there was no way out. I understood that I would never have personal happiness, I was unlikely to find a decent job and get a high salary to travel and see the world. And I’m unlikely to have children that I dream of. I closed myself off and cried all the time.
Zara recalls that at the age of 12 she was often forced to get off the bus and accused of fraud - no one believed that she had the right to use a child's ticket. Zara was already mistaken for a middle-aged woman.
- I hated school! Returning home, I cried day and night, - Zara recalls. - It got to the point that I stopped going to classes. However, I still found real friends who accepted me the way I was.
Help came unexpectedly from American surgeons. As a psychological experiment, they offered Zara to undergo plastic surgery. A facelift, blephroplasty, fillers - all that old ladies go to, a 16-year-old British woman had to endure.
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But on the other hand, the results exceeded all expectations. When the stitches were removed to Zara, she was stunned, the same young girl looked at her as she felt from the inside. Harshorn seemed to be reborn.
- When I saw myself after removing the bandages, I experienced a mixture of surprise and happiness, - says the girl. - I never thought that this day would come. It seemed to me that I would stay like this forever. I remember that unhappy girl in the mirror who was bullied by everyone, but now I want to tell her that everything will be okay.
Now when I look in the mirror, I see opportunities that were not there before. I finally feel like a teenager, people no longer look at me the same way.
The past, according to the happy girl, no longer matters. Now Zara dreams that one day she will open her own beauty salon.
And it’s not for nothing that they say, change yourself and the world will change behind you. As soon as Zara felt loved, she met a guy. Says he's the man of her dreams. They met for her friend's birthday. Ricky Andrews, 22, is an apprentice painter and decorator. Young people are planning a wedding soon.
True, the girl is afraid to make far-reaching plans for children.
“I would like to get married and have children, but I’m not sure if it would be fair of me if they have to go through the same thing as me, because my disease is hereditary,” she says.
But her lover is sure that together they will succeed. After all, Zara did it.