Hi I'm a 29 year old with BPEI

[Guest guest]

Hi Everybody!

I just posted this so if it appears twice, forgive my redundancy!

I'm Kirsty McConaghy, (photos are in the photo section of this

site), and i felt compelled to write and say Hi to everybody.

I've recently become a new Mum (via a wonderful friend/surrogate

Mother) and am now the proud Mother of twin girls. The joys of

motherhood have made me reflect a lot on my childhood as well as

have a new understanding/empathy for what my own parents must have

gone through when they first discovered my BPEI.

I wanted to send a word of encouragement to all the new parents of

children with BPEI. I can happily say that BPEI (perhaps

surprisingly so) had very little affect on my life. From my own

perspective, my eyes were a little 'different' and, yes i had

comments from other kids, but as I grew older, found my

gifts/talents, i developed my own lofty ideals about the world and

my own goals. I wanted to travel a lot, see the world, start my own

business (although when i was 10 that included starting a toy-making

business LOL), but in reality it ended up being an internet

marketing company, get married and have lots of children, hopefully

twins. Well here i am, looking at my twin daughters, having

recently return from five years in America where i met my fantastic

husband, and more than satisifed with my 29 years of life.

As a child, i absolutely had comments from other kids, but new Mum's

please know that your child will not suffer the same anxiety/fear

you have.. as a child with BPEI, we just feel that our eyes are

a 'bit different'. To me, every kid had something about them, be it

dark skin, red hair, bow legs, mine just happened to be small eyes -

big deal?

I wish i had some photos to show of me as a youngster, i need to

find some and scan them in, my eyes were quite severe, i had the

full BPEI, apparently when i was born, the doctors just described my

eyes as 'two small slits'.

Anyway, i hope i have given some encouragement to you new Mums.

Your children wont suffer the fears you have, they will be too busy

having fun!

All the best, and please email me if you have any specific

questions. Any questions relating to surgeries, i'll have to ask my

parents, its been probably about 18 years since i've had my last one

(although i did have rhinoplasty on my nose as it was becoming quite

crooked due to the surgery i had had inserting a pin to bring the

bridge of my nose) I actually forget i have BPEI, as does

everyonelse.

Kirsty

x0