Erin Ashley - Spring 2006

Erin Ashley, a 19-year-old with a gorgeous soul, was born March 2, 1987, with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Although she came into this world with a facial difference, it did not stop her from making friends, achieving her goals and becoming the bright young woman she is today.

At an early age, Erin’s two older brothers showed her how to be strong and stick up for herself when others tried to bring her down. Even before she was a toddler, children and adults stared and made comments.

Middle school was tough for Erin. With her outgoing, comical personality, she made many friends, but the teasing escalated to an extreme.

She would go home and cry herself to sleep. She didn’t even want to wake up to go to school, but she did because she knew she had to be strong.

As high school neared, Erin decided it was time to change not only her appearance — she tended to be a little tomboyish — but also her attitude about people. She reminded herself there is some bad in every good person and some good in every bad person.

She walked into her first class on the first day of high school and felt that everyone was staring at her. Erin sat down, looked around and realized that no one really thought about who she was, what she looked like or even that she was 10 minutes late.

High school, it turned out, was the complete opposite of the madness of middle school. It seemed that most everyone grew up and minded their own business. The few that didn’t were the ones who never would.

Erin decided to become more responsible and to handle things as an adult. She bought her first car herself and finished high school six months early with a better-than-3.0 GPA.

Only one week after graduating, Erin began college with hopes and dreams of becoming a pharmacist. In the meantime, she found a better job, making more money, and decided to move out on her own.

Now, a young adult, Erin is more mature than most kids her age. She is the life of the party and never fails to make everyone laugh. She’ll talk to anybody and everybody to make a new friend, and she will go out of her way just to make someone’s day.

Erin realized the saying is true — what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. She believes that the same people who treated her so poorly in the past really made her the amazing person she is today. They gave her the strength to be a better person, the courage to do anything she sets her mind to and, thankfully, the ability to talk to others who go through the same difficulties.

If you would like to share your story with CCA, please send an email to Annie Reeves at areeves@ccakids.com. If your story is chosen, with your permission, we will edit and publish it in the CCA newsletter, on the Web site or use it for public awareness programs. Not all stories will be selected.

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