Facial Palsy since Birth - my hospital picture

The other day (May 2006) my mum showed me a negative which she had been hiding away since I was born in 1969 because she thought it might upset me.  When I was just a few weeks old she had to take me to hospital and make me cry so that the specialists could see the full extent of my facial paralysis.  She said she was very upset because they kept her waiting a long time and I was very hungry and very miserable!  She had kept this picture hidden from me for 37 years but because she now knows I want to help others by showing that things can improve, she has finally shown it to me.  I only have the slide for now so I have scanned that in order to get something up on my website, later I hope to add a better copy of this picture.

I get so many parents emailing me about their children born with Facial Palsy and it means a great deal to me to have helped them and perhaps shown them that even though things can start out bad, it doesn't mean it is going to ruin a child's life.