baby born without a face

[nickel]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/player320.aspx?aid=34965&bw=

i had posted this on another forum, but it is very moving and so i thought i would share it here too. this is a news story about a baby born with a severe birth defect. it does leave you asking, "why?"

[Cantacuzene]

Thats the most horrifying thing I've ever seen.

[kimchicowboy]

after canta said that, i'm not sure if i can watch it... :(

[angl2b]

OMG-I will never forget that child's image for sure- very sad......

[StonedWheat]

Wow...must be hard for the parents.

[attgig]

wow.

[BrewMaster]

poor girl. good thing she has a loving family and an older sister.

[welfareloser]

i'm disgusted... by the sensationalizing of deformities.

[BrewMaster]

they justify it by making a pitch for cash at the end.

[ski]

I'm just glad their family is able to interact with her normally... it seems that she's having a "normal" childhood so far despite her condition. What's going to happen in 10, 20 years when people get colder?

[welfareloser]

i know. and it's great that people will help. i am familiar with this deformity, and it will take a lot of expensive sugeries.

but when it comes down to it, it's all about the freakshow value. the "whoa lookit THAT!" factor.

i just feel slimy after seeing something like that exploited. i didn't even click this link. i see these kids in the waiting room all the time when i take my son to see his surgeons. and you know what helps them? volunteering to feed the deformed baby a bottle so the mom can take five minutes to go poop. taking your normal kids to a playdate with the deformed kids. being the parents' friends - because trust me, what friends they once had are now gone, because it's "too uncomfortable." people "feel bad." so they stay away.

the only purpose of gawking at this news story is to drive their ratings up and to make you feel lucky. i don't like the fact that these poor parents have to prostitute their baby's image in the media in order to get the sympathy that leads to the cash that will help. and nobody really wants to be in the room helping... so we put them in a media-box made of one-way glass. we all get to gawk in, but we don't want them to see us looking, because then we might have to interact, and that would suck, because it would make us "feel bad." we just want to express what good people we are for sympathizing, without actually having to interact. it's a disgusting side of human nature to dehumanize the deformed like that.

if you want to help kids like these, take your cyber-butt to the web page of a hospital, research foundation, ronald mcdonald house, or other charity, and donate. no exploitation required. you can feel even better about yourself by not driving up the hits to the "news" story's web page.

order of saint frances children's hospital - world-class pediatric surgeons helping thousands of kids every year... with donations, they can not only keep costs down, they also have a fund set up for those who cannot pay for needed services (people who make too much money for welfare, but not enough to live):

http://www.osfsaintfrancis.org/newformat/osf/Services/Foundation/giftForm.asp

ronald mcdonald house, which gives families a place to stay, for free, near their children that are stuck in hospitals far from home for months at a time...

http://www.rmhc.com/donate/donate_individual/online_donations/index.html

etc.

[nickel]

yeh, but beyond the cynicism, we click on all kinds of links to get information.
information i gained here is that i didn't know such a defect existed, and it would be interesting to see a followup on how well the surgeons will re-contruct her.

as far as the curiousity about abnormalities, that is inherent and has been since the beginning of time. the parents encouraged questions. they discouraged ridicule like calling the girl horrifying for example.

[BrewMaster]

.

order of saint frances children's hospital - world-class pediatric surgeons helping thousands of kids every year... with donations, they can not only keep costs down, they also have a fund set up for those who cannot pay for needed services (people who make too much money for welfare, but not enough to live):

http://www.osfsaintfrancis.org/newformat/osf/Services/Foundation/giftForm.asp


not to drag us off topic, but I thought you hated Catholic healthcare?

[eSDee]

I can't really tell what she looks like because the vid is so choppy. Those are some strong parents though good for them.

[nickel]

I can't really tell what she looks like because the vid is so choppy. Those are some strong parents though good for them.
i dunno - i just tried it again and it wasn't choppy at all.

[molecularfire]

Rant...
:stupid: Humans suck. Poor kid.

[nickel]

:stupid: Humans suck.
some better than others :naughty:

[brainsmile]

I'm speechless

[ray]

:neartears

[ShawnLee]

That sucks, but it looks like they're doing well with a bad situation. I couldn't tell from the video, but did she blink? It didn't seem like she could, so do they have to put drops in her eyes?

[welfareloser]

not to drag us off topic, but I thought you hated Catholic healthcare?

dammit! you caught me :P

i hate it when they're the only game in town. i hate the fact that they can squeeze out full-service healthcare by virture of their tax-exempt status and then quit offering whatever services don't fit neatly into their dogma.

that said... this particular hospital specializes in pediatrics, oncology and geriatrics; they don't bill themselves as family doctors or a place to go for family planning, and they aren't the only game in town... so i don't have a problem with them. and all those cute little filipino nuns are a ray of sunshine, too ;)


yeh, but beyond the cynicism, we click on all kinds of links to get information.

of course, but that doesn't address my point at all. we click on a lot more links to "whoa, lookit the messed up baby!" than we do for, say, lookit the poor kid with the learning disability.


information i gained here is that i didn't know such a defect existed, and it would be interesting to see a followup on how well the surgeons will re-contruct her.

you won't see a follow-up... once she's fine, the coverage will stop. trust me. i see a news story every couple of years on THE BABY WITH NO FACE. eek! bring your friends! be amazed! be astounded! i have yet to see a "look at how well this little girl is doing now that she is normal" story. there's the occasional follow-up if she still looks messed up when they've done the best they could and she still looks funny, of course...


as far as the curiousity about abnormalities, that is inherent and has been since the beginning of time. the parents encouraged questions. they discouraged ridicule like calling the girl horrifying for example.

again, of course. the curiosity is normal. the bigger the freakshow, the more interest we have in it. i'm simply saying that saccharine platitudes - what a brave little girl! my heart goes out to the family! - are a poor cover for rubberbecking. not to imply that i'm disgusted by anyone doing it. i'm fascinated by the glitch in craniofacial development that leads to the deformity, i'm fascinated by the intricate surgeries that help correct it, and my heart does, in fact, go out to the family. i just can't help but notice the rather smarmy herd mentality that rears its head around such things... and anyone who denies it is lyin' :P

[BrewMaster]

good enough for me. i just wanted to make sure you didn't have a change of heart or something. that's not allowed around here without prior written notice. :deal:

[x1337xD335C1P13x]

The father said "I believe that God does not give more than we can handle"....even through the physical features of the baby were not "normal", The father remained so strong in his faith and believes that God did it for a reason.

[cheapchinese]

i'm afraid to look at the clip...
i'm alone in my livingroom..
maybe. i'll wait for my room mates later

[BigJon]

No words can express my feelings...

Wow...

:(

[BrewMaster]

i'm afraid to look at the clip...
i'm alone in my livingroom..
maybe. i'll wait for my room mates later
geez. you act like it's a horror film clip or something. its a news broadcast about a family, relax.

[x1337xD335C1P13x]

geez. you act like it's a horror film clip or something. its a news broadcast about a family, relax.

:stupid: :duh:

just-> :wow: