Hey I can love anyone who has honest integrity, sincerity and good character no matter what their outward appearances looks like. My goodness I have met enough plastic perfect looking people in my day who lack those important qualities… to not want to love them. It is truly the people that are beautiful on the INSIDE that makes them most lovable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_ElamJack Elam sounded like a great guy. Seems to me he was loved by his Pacific Northwest friends here in Oregon, aside from his mother, regardless of what happened to his face. It was his buddies that encouraged him to leave accounting and go into “the arts� specifically acting. I wonder if his weight gain later in life had anything to do with depression- and the way other people pre-judged him by his face… and perhaps his difficulties in finding resources for help.
I am not his mother- regardless I think I could have loved a character like that who “kept moving forward� with his life. I think we should not laugh at this face- he was a real person and has real family still here in Oregon.
As we keep moving forward hopefully people here in the Pacific Northwest (specifically Oregon) - can push forward at getting more resources here for people with facial issues. My guess is in Jack Elam’s day- he did not have posties pointing him in the direction of neuromuscular facial retraining therapist, neuro ocular surgeons etc… or someone like Dr. Slattery (sounds like a great Dr.
) from HEI advocating, on his behalf, to have a therapist actually contact him. Last week at our Portland Oregon support group meeting we had a big turn out of 28 people. In the room was
way too high of a percentage of AN people with varying degrees of facial issues: Bell’s Palsy, synkinesis, dry eye, etc.
I asked of the group,
“Is there anyone here who has seen a neuromuscular facial retraining therapist or had their physician refer them to one?
Not one person had.
Not one.
Remember on our threads we have the whole world watching us- some still lurking cautiously in a state of being confused, overwhelmed and trying to seek help. We want to gain the support from the www in our AN journeys but we also want to create an environment of support to the outside world… so a person who has Bells Palsy or synkinesis or nystagmus (or all of these combined) feels comfortable enough to come out and ask us for help.
Can we carefully reflect on where this post is going?
Respectfully,
Daisy Head Mazy
