Always Someone Worse Off

Throughout my week, I find myself watching YouTube videos and noticing all of the unbelievable stories from all over the world.

At times, I don't know why I'm drawn to a particular video or topic but I was so tuned in to the story about a little girl named Marlie. Marlie had an incurable growth, which started on her face at just 4 years old. She is from Haiti and her parents had no understanding of what it was and why it was happening. The medical attention in Haiti was not enough to help her.

Eventually, her parents reached out to two Haitian, American-based nurses for help and that's when they were able to get her connected with Dr. Jesus in America.

She has undergone multiple surgeries and is beginning to start her life again but watching the story really touched me. This story not only touched me but gave me a reminder as to how blessed I am. It also taught me that what I have to go through each day is nothing because there is always someone worse off.

Personally, I can remember when I was a little girl, just graduating the 6th grade. My summer didn't turn out the way I thought it would because I had to deal with all of my hair falling out and scalp being so infected. This was the weirdest condition that came out of nowhere. That summer I felt alone and separated from the outside world, wondering if I would be okay to go back to school the next school year.

My parents didn't know what was going on with me so I could feel, when watching Marlie's story, how her parents must've felt to see their daughter's face transforming like that. I could also relate to the rejection she felt when people looked at her in a strange way because she was different. I experienced that same thing when I had to go outside to get air to my scalp, hoping that prayer and continual home remedies would start my hair growing back. I understand how cancer patients feel when they have lost all of their hair. 


I remember my father telling me that if my hair didn't begin to grow back and the infection in my scalp did not leave, he would have to take me to the hospital.  However, there is definitely something greater than ourselves that watches over us. 

I believe Marlie's story was a reminder to me of what I went through as a child and how blessed and grateful I should be to still be alive and healthy today. I will never know what visited my body that summer, but I survived my medical mystery and claim it as a proven miracle.


Although stories such as Marlie's are hard to swallow, I do believe that without stories like hers and the miracles that come from them, we would be lost within ourselves. We would be distanced from our hopes, dreams and prayers for a second chance.

There's Always Someone Worse Off. -Selena