“Everyone is born to look different, and we should all feel beautiful in our own skin.” A teenage girl shares this great thought with us.
Ciera Swaringen is a 19-year-old girl who lives in Rockwell, North Carolina. She was born with hundreds of oversized mole-like birthmarks covering her entire body. It is a rare skin condition, which happens to one in every 500,000 people.
Ciera’s parents nurtured her like their other kids and admitted her to a school, where unfortunately she had to endure cruel taunts from other children and adults as well. She was nicknamed “spotty dog” by school bullies and some outrageous guys literally called her by this name on her face. But, she developed a positive attitude towards her birthmarks.
Yeah! She felt different but not in the way she was supposed to be. Ciera never hated herself for having the birthmarks which cover her entire body, instead she embraced them and chose a happy life.
Ciera was born with birthmarks which cover about 70% of her body.
She says, she never felt bad about having birthmarks but had to face bullying her whole life. She ignored everything and accepted happily what she was born with. Ciera has set a great example before all of us.
‘One day I remember being on the school bus and hearing a young boy laugh at me and call me a spotty dog,’ Ciera said.
‘I feel lucky to have grown up in a small town because most of the people around me know about my birthmarks, so I felt quite normal.’
