The Girl Who Got Stronger

My name is Samantha Bullock and I’m 16 years old. I have amniotic band syndrome in my fingers. I also have clubbed feet. When my mother was pregnant, she fell and the door knob hit her in the back. She had no idea that it had done anything to me until I was born. She told me that she cried because she knew I would have problems with walking and doing anything that a normal human being could do. In school I went through physical education and my teachers helped me accomplish everything I could. My mom treated me perfectly normal and never believed there was a thing I couldn’t do. I became a very quick learner. I type, text, write, and run. There isn’t anything on this earth I couldn’t do if I tried. And I’ve always been so proud of myself for achieving these tasks.

Before I entered 6th grade, I moved to a different county. When I got there, kids tormented me bad. It was the worst I’ve ever been treated in my life. No, I did not tell my mother, I did not tell my teachers or principal. And to this day, I still could not tell you why I didn’t get help. Maybe because I was ashamed. So I started hanging around the wrong crowd. Got into things that no 11 year old should even think about. And my mother still has no idea about any of the things I did. I guess I just had to numb the pain.

I finally decided that I needed to start over. I needed to go back to my original home where nobody really knew about them. So my family and I moved back to my hometown. When I moved back, I wore jackets everyday, to hide my hands. I would wear jackets on a hot summer day and be completely miserable. I didn’t care though. Only my close friends knew about them. I knew they were real friends because they accepted me for who I was.

My sophomore year came and I decided to come out about them. I stopped wearing jackets and everyone seen them. I even traced them on a poster for art class. Then, the bullying started all over again. I felt so miserable. Like I wasn’t good enough for anything. I knew I was a beautiful girl but I couldn’t understand why God had given me such a curse. I would stay in the counselor’s office at school almost every day to avoid being stared at or poked and prodded at. I had nicknames such as, nubbins, nubby, nubs, etc. I did not want those nicknames. And I begged people to stop. Nobody wanted me to touch them, like I had an infectious disease. I had many thoughts of suicide. I went to the principal 4 times, told him names, and he did nothing. My only solution? Dropped out of school.

Now, I have learned that I’m stronger than all of these people. They are just jealous. I think my hands are a miracle because I could have lost limbs. I’m going back to school this year and I’m going to ignore anyone who says a word to me. Because I’m the bigger person, and I’m unique.