Tayla Clement, 26, was born with a uncommon dysfunction that has made it not possible for her to smile — however she says she is grateful for it.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Clement has Moebius syndrome, a neurological illness that impacts one youngster out of each 50,000 to 500,000 born, analysis reveals.
Moebius happens when a child’s facial nerves are underdeveloped. The first results are facial paralysis and inhibited eye motion, however the situation may also trigger problem with speech, swallowing and chewing, in line with Johns Hopkins.
RARE CONDITION CAUSED PATIENT TO SEE ‘DEMONIC’ FACES, SAYS STUDY ON ‘VISUAL DISORDER’
“The syndrome impacts my sixth and seventh cranial nerve, so it is basically like facial paralysis,” Clement instructed Fox Information Digital in an interview.
It additionally means Clement can’t transfer her eyebrows or higher lip — and might’t shift her eyes backward and forward.
Tayla Clement, born and raised in New Zealand, has Moebius syndrome, a neurological illness that impacts one youngster out of each 50,000 to 500,000. (Tayla Clement)
Dr. Juliann Paolicchi, a pediatric neurologist and the director of pediatric epilepsy at Staten Island College Hospital in New York, has handled a number of infants with Moebius syndrome. (She was not concerned in Clement’s care.)
“Infants born with the syndrome could have a lopsided face, could not have the ability to kind a smile, and will have feeding issues early in life,” she instructed Fox Information Digital.
NEW JERSEY TWINS RECEIVE MATCHING HEART SURGERIES AFTER MARFAN SYNDROME DIAGNOSIS: ‘A BETTER LIFE’
They’ll additionally expertise orthopedic anomalies, equivalent to irregular growth of the fingers and ft.
“Different components of the face and eyes could also be affected, equivalent to a small jaw, cleft palate and smaller-sized eyes,” Paolicchi added.
Rising up with out the flexibility to smile introduced loads of challenges for Clement, who mentioned she was bullied for years — “for so long as I can bear in mind,” she instructed Fox Information Digital. (Tayla Clement)
Whereas kids with Moebius syndrome should not have issues with mental growth, social conditions could be a problem resulting from a decreased capacity to exhibit feelings with the face, Paolicchi mentioned.
“They’re typically mistaken as being unhappy or overly critical, when they’re merely simply not in a position to smile,” she added.
‘Fairly isolating’
Rising up with out the flexibility to smile introduced loads of challenges for Clement, she mentioned.
She was born in 1997, earlier than the appearance of social media, so she wasn’t in a position to join with others dealing with the identical problem.
“With the syndrome being tremendous uncommon and likewise coming from a small nation, it was fairly isolating,” she mentioned.
“As an 11-year-old lady, I assumed, if I may simply smile, I might have associates and wouldn’t get bullied anymore.”
Clement mentioned she was bullied for years, “for so long as I can bear in mind.”
“It began off as verbal bullying — being instructed that I used to be ugly or nugatory, or being remoted and never having any associates.”
Clement is pictured at 11 years previous after present process facial surgical procedure, which was finally unsuccessful. (Tayla Clement)
Issues acquired worse when Clement was 11, after she had a serious operation in an try and right her lack of ability to smile.
Throughout the “invasive” nine-hour surgical procedure, docs took tissue from her proper thigh and inserted it internally into the corners of her mouth and into her temples.
“The concept was that once I would clench down on my jaw, the tissue that was planted would pull the corners of my mouth as much as mimic a standard smile,” she recalled to Fox Information Digital.
OHIO BOY, 8, PREPARES FOR BLINDNESS: ‘IT’S HEARTBREAKING,’ HIS MOM SAYS
Paolicchi confirmed that corrective surgical procedure is typically carried out on infants and kids with Moebius syndrome.
“It is a sophisticated and specialised process.”
“The process, known as the ‘smile’ surgical procedure, helps not solely look, however the capacity to smile and to have the ability to pronounce phrases extra clearly,” she mentioned.
“This process does contain transferring parts of the individual’s personal muscle to the face and connecting it to the working nerves of the face. It is a sophisticated and specialised process and may solely be carried out by surgeons expert within the process.”
Clement is pictured quickly after receiving main surgical procedure at 11 years previous. “The process, known as the ‘smile’ surgical procedure, helps not solely look, however the capacity to smile and to have the ability to pronounce phrases extra clearly,” a health care provider mentioned. (Tayla Clement)
The surgical procedure does include dangers. Clement famous that there was a “very superb line” between tightening the world an excessive amount of — which would depart her with a everlasting smile — and leaving it too unfastened and never seeing any outcomes in any respect.
“As an 11-year-old lady, I assumed, if I may simply smile, I might have associates and wouldn’t get bullied anymore. So I jumped on the alternative,” she mentioned.
“I simply selected to consider in myself — and that I used to be destined for one thing larger.”
The surgical procedure was unsuccessful — leaving Clement scarred and “fully damaged,” she mentioned.
“It was such a horrible time for me,” she mentioned. “However wanting again on it now, I could not be extra grateful for the surgical procedure being unsuccessful. I believe it was all alleged to occur that method.”
Reaching a breaking level
After the operation, the bullying acquired worse. Along with calling Clement names, college students pushed her into lockers, ripped off her backpack and threw her objects on the ground, she mentioned.
“That got here with numerous psychological well being challenges,” she mentioned. “For a lot of my childhood, I used to be fairly depressed and anxious.”
Whereas Clement’s household offered her with loads of love and help — “they’re the rationale why I am nonetheless right here,” she mentioned — they did not understand how unhealthy issues actually had been.
Whereas Clement’s household offered her with loads of love and help — “they’re the rationale why I am nonetheless right here,” she mentioned — they did not understand how unhealthy issues actually had been. Clement is pictured right here along with her mom. (Tayla Clement)
“After I was youthful, I by no means instructed my mother and father about what I used to be going by with the bullying,” Clement mentioned.
“There are nonetheless some issues that I in all probability will not ever inform them about, as a result of I do not need them to really feel unhappy or upset,” she went on. “I do know they might really feel like they might have performed one thing, however there’s nothing they might have performed.”
In 2015, throughout her senior yr of highschool, Clement started collapsing and experiencing seizures.
Throughout her senior yr of highschool, Clement started collapsing and experiencing seizures. The subsequent yr, she was recognized with excessive scientific melancholy and anxiousness, together with post-traumatic stress dysfunction. (Tayla Clement)
The subsequent yr, at 18, she was recognized with excessive scientific melancholy and anxiousness, together with post-traumatic stress dysfunction, she mentioned.
“As a result of I had been by a lot stress and trauma, my mind was type of shutting down,” she mentioned. “The seizures had been like a bodily type of how a lot I used to be struggling internally.”
OHIO MOTHER HOPES FOR A CURE TO SAVE HER SON, 8, FROM RARE, FATAL DISEASE: ‘GUT-WRENCHING’
On the time, docs and specialists instructed Clement that she would have seizures for the remainder of her life, and that she’d all the time be depending on different folks.
However she was decided to show them unsuitable.
Intensive remedy performed a giant half in her restoration, she mentioned.
After her prognosis, Clement underwent intensive remedy, which she mentioned performed a giant half in her restoration.
She discovered herself at a “crossroads,” she mentioned, the place she had to decide on between engaged on her psychological and bodily well being and placing herself into a greater house, or persevering with to really feel “sad and depressing.”
Clement selected the primary path — though it wasn’t simple.
“There have been days once I simply needed to surrender. I did not need to do life anymore as a result of it was so onerous,” she mentioned.
In her position as a sports activities content material creator and host, Clement has leveraged her love of rugby right into a “new lease on life — an actual goal,” she mentioned.
“I realized fairly rapidly that the one one who can really assist you to is your self.”
Clement “labored tirelessly,” persevering with with remedy, studying many self-help books and adopting wholesome every day routines.
“I simply selected to consider in myself — and that I used to be destined for one thing larger,” she mentioned.
Saved by a brand new ardour
Because it turned out, the “one thing larger” was a brand new profession in sports activities.
Clement had all the time been a giant sports activities fan — with a specific love of rugby, which may be very widespread in New Zealand.
In March 2023, she began creating social media content material round rugby and motorsports. The Chiefs, an expert rugby union staff in New Zealand, gave Clement her first alternative.
Since coming into the rugby scene, Clement has labored to “carry inclusion” into the game, with a aim of “inspiring, empowering and advocating for optimistic change.” (Tayla Clement)
This yr, Clement interviewed gamers from 4 of the Tremendous Rugby Pacific groups, together with a number of the finest gamers on the earth, equivalent to two-time World Rugby Participant of the 12 months Beauden Barrett.
In her position as a sports activities content material creator and host, Clement mentioned she’s leveraged her love of rugby right into a “new lease on life — an actual goal.”
Since coming into the rugby scene, she has labored to “carry inclusion” into the game, with a aim of “inspiring, empowering and advocating for optimistic change.”
PENNSYLVANIA PARENTS HONOR THEIR DAUGHTER WHO DIED OF A RARE GENETIC DISEASE: ‘SWEETEST GIRL IN THE WORLD’
Clement can be aiming, she mentioned, to assist different sports activities organizations incorporate extra inclusion into their groups.
“I’ve recognized from a younger age that I am meant to assist folks,” Clement instructed Fox Information Digital. “Utilizing my story and my voice to advocate for others and make the sports activities area extra inclusive makes me so completely satisfied. And I am simply getting began.”
‘Grateful for all of it’
It has been three years since Clement skilled a collapse or seizure, she instructed Fox Information Digital.
“I am dwelling a life I actually by no means may have dreamed of,” she mentioned. “I am doing a job that I completely love, and I simply didn’t suppose this stage of happiness and contentment was accessible or attainable for me … It has been a protracted journey, and I’m very grateful for all of it.”
This yr, Clement has interviewed gamers from 4 of the Tremendous Rugby Pacific groups, together with a number of the finest gamers on the earth. (Tayla Clement)
Clement has additionally used her platform to attach with different individuals who have syndromes or disabilities. Her mission is to coach others about find out how to deal with youthful individuals who really feel like they’re “not seen or heard” — whether or not that’s within the sports activities area or on a regular basis life.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
“I actually wanted somebody like my current self once I was youthful,” she mentioned. “It’s a full-circle second to be there for different folks now.”
Regardless of the “darkish occasions” she’s skilled, Clement mentioned that being born with Moebius syndrome and never having the ability to smile has turned out to be “the best present.”
Clement mentioned she goals to assist different sports activities organizations incorporate extra inclusion into their groups. “I’ve recognized from a younger age that I am meant to assist folks,” she mentioned. (Tayla Clement)
“We’re all born totally different and distinctive,” she mentioned. “It has given me the chance to make use of my voice and to be pleased with my variations.”
“Being alive is such a present, and it’s a particular factor to be born with Moebius syndrome. It would not make us any much less worthy, stunning or superb.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Though she will be able to’t smile within the conventional sense, Clement says she has her personal model.
“I believe everybody’s smile is totally different, similar to everybody else is totally different,” she mentioned.
“I simply smile in my very own method.”
For extra Health articles, go to www.foxnews.com/well being.
Discussion about this post