My story

I have Treacher Collins syndrome and was born without any ears, a receding jaw and no cheekbones. I’ve had more than 30 operations including a jaw distraction, which involves breaking the jaw on a daily basis in order to bring it forward. It has been very painful, and it’s not a nice feeling to be sitting at home in pain.

But almost worse than the surgery, was the bullying that I endured at primary school. During the final year of school two boys started picking on me. They called me things like ‘ugly’ and ‘troll’, and other really horrible names. There were times when I would run out of the classroom and sit in the corridor sobbing.

It got worse and worse. They started pushing me around and one of them pinned me up against the wall in the school corridor. I didn’t know why they were treating me like that and it was an awful time. I would come home every day upset and crying. It made me feel anxious and unhappy.

One night I went to go and see my friend. She only lived around the corner from me so I walked round on my own. As soon as I stepped into her road, I saw the two boys standing there. They saw me and started chasing me. I ran home as fast I could. I could have been run over by a car, because I raced out into the road without looking, I was that scared. I got home and I was crying my eyes out. I felt upset, distraught and really emotional.

After my parents went to see the head teacher, the bullies were dealt with and I was moved into a different class.