The pain hit me just as I tried to sit on the sand. The second one, more alarmingly, hit me as I tried to stand up, a wrenching tug on my left side that left me stunned. We – Trish, Sarah Jane, her fiancé Tadhg and I – were on a day out in Stanley, Hong Kong, a couple of weeks ago, part of a … Continue reading I travelled to Hong Kong and ended up in hospital
“There’s a shadow on your lung,” the doctor told me. I was sitting in a hotel room in Lisbon during the Web Summit last month, with hardly a care in the world when I got the unexpected call. I took the news rather calmly and listened while she said I needed to have a CT scan. Once I put the phone down I rang Trish … Continue reading ‘There’s a shadow on your lung’
You may not have known Grace McKevett, but she was my wife Trish’s first cousin. I said ‘was’ because when I came home from work last month to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary, Trish’s ashen face told me that Grace had finally lost her battle with cancer. Grace was buried on Good Friday outside Dundalk. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there because of work, but I … Continue reading Goodbye to our amazing Grace
If you haven’t checked out the new look Changing Faces then you should. Apart from a refreshed look, it also presents facially disfigured people in a positive way – happy images with powerful words we all want to hear. It’s about empowering us to take control of our lives and not be defeated by fear, the staring from others who should know better, and the … Continue reading A new look for Changing Faces
I’ll be honest and say it took me a long time to deal with people staring at my face – too long. Of course I’m not alone. Many others with a facial difference take many years to make that adjustment. But some never come to terms with their face and how people objectify them. When I curated the @ireland account on Twitter a few months … Continue reading 5 ways to say hello without staring
Last Saturday I happened to be in London and grabbed a few hours with some remarkable people at a social event organised by the Katie Piper Foundation. I must admit knowing Katie Piper would be present for 45 minutes was a compelling reason to go because I am such a huge admirer of hers. She has said some lovely things about my blog, sent me … Continue reading You are among friends in KPF Forum
You’re a 17-year-old girl, and like lots of people that age, you check out the Internet. For Lizzie Velasquez the search for music one day turned up an unexpected discovery, a YouTube video labelling her ‘The worlds ugliest woman’, complete with shocking comments, telling her to kill herself and calling her a ‘monster’. Lizzie, was born with a rare congenital condition that means she has … Continue reading Lizzie Velasquez is beautiful and no ‘monster
