For many young women, puberty starts as a surprise to many, and usually begins at a very stressful time in their life. If you thought that having a huge zit on your face was bad, Meagan Barnard had to go through school with a much more embarrassing problem…
Around the same time Meagan started blossoming into a beautiful young woman, she developed Lymphedema, a condition that makes it hard for the body to flush out fluids from limbs, resulting in swollen tissues.
While many people didn’t know the details of the condition, Meagan knew all too well. Unlike her classmates, she couldn’t wear the same clothes that everyone was wearing, and she definitely didn’t wasn’t able to do all of the things everyone around her was doing. Even as a beautiful young woman, she was self-conscious that she her self-image was completely broken at such a young age.
Because of the condition, Meagan’s right leg would retain up to 5 pints of fluid. Her classmates would constantly bully her in school, making fun of her condition, and giving her appalling nicknames like “Michelin Man.”
But even after she graduated from high school, life didn’t get any easier. As time went by, her leg would grow with her. By the time she was 24, her leg had doubled in size! The average person only has 8 points of blood in their body — Imagine having all of that stuck in your leg!