Lexi Our Hero

Hi, My name is Lexi Banks and I'm 18 years old. I was born with Goldenhar Syndrome. Goldenhar Syndrome is a rare-genetic condition that causes craniofacial birth defects of the face, head, afecting the eyes, ears, and vertibrae. I had at least 20 surgeries or more including Gtube, Tracheotomy, Bone conducted hearing aids, and surgeries trying to build a mandible for me. My biggest surgery was on April 16th of 2018 and they made a mandible by using my fiblua and the surgery took 14 hours, very long process and serious. Now I'm having another upcoming surgery for fatty tissue on the side of my face where I got my jaw build, building my chin, and ear pinned back. It would hopefully be my last surgery. But Me and my mom have been struggling financially and would have to pay out of pocket with the money we don't have. It gets harder every day, so Donating a dollar would help us so much and will mean the world to me. I have struggled through my whole life and faced many challenges like getting bullied so much. In my young childhood years, people would come up to me and just laugh at me and say mean things to me. But it gotten worse when I entered my teenage years, there would be times when people would come up to me and take pictures and laugh at me. Another time at school, Kids would try to beat me up in the bathroom stalls, push me around, and laugh at me constantly. Bullying changed me, I don't like going out in public and I always hide behind my mom and still to this day I do.  I would also be scared to make friends because I would think they would be mean to me or do something to hurt me. I'm so tired of be stared at and hiding behind my mom.. I can't enjoy one day in public without someone staring... :( All I want is to be accepted who I am and accept that I'm different. Going through a hard life makes you stronger person. I'm thankful for each one of you supporting me. Donating a single dollar would mean the whole world to me. Thank you all very much! #Teamlexi