Wounded Guys and Girls Tell Us the Stories Behind Their Scars

Grace

“I managed to make it from 1993 - 2014, to 21 years old having no health issues whatsoever. No broken bones, no serious illnesses - then suddenly, I was having brain surgery. I was so stupidly happy not to lose that much hair when I had my 2 operations, a year a part. I didn’t even lose much during radiotherapy. I do have this line now, all the way around the side of my head that will never grow hair. I love it. Every day I see it, and the dent in my head beneath it, and the lump where muscle has slipped and gathered. It reminds me what I’ve been through - and how I didn’t just survive, I smashed it. I will be having the scar on my head “re-opened” early next year (2018) - they’re reconstructing my dented face. I am hoping for the best resulted, but also that I get to keep this pronounced, near perfect line. My tummy scar is newer. That’s been harder to come to terms with - but i’m trying not to give it too much power. I’m owning it. My body is a collection of markings, and memories. It’s a map of me. Someday I’ll leave this world, I will escape my skin, and I will leave behind a form of myself that was loved - so loved - by myself and others - and it will have been lived in!”