Helen is the mother of 8-year old Cree.

Cree is 8 years old and has been living with Vitiligo for 4 years. As a mother of a child with Vitiligo, some nights are long and restless. It seems as though every cry is your last cry, when in fact, the older they get, it seems the worse it gets... I wonder if my tear ducks will ever stop working.

I try to do everything I can to comfort Cree and build her self-esteem. However, I can't be there with Cree to facilitate playtime at school or at the playground. When your child suddenly gives up dancing and track (activities she loves) because the uniform requires them to wear shorts... it really hurts... and there is NOTHING you can do as a Mom to convince her that everything will be okay. She said, “Mommy it's NOT YOU they stare at and snicker about” or when your child suddenly fakes taking ill at the thought of going to the sock hop because she has to wear a skirt.

As the protector of your child, you attempt to educate everyone around her at any cost and it's helps to a certain degree, but once your child is exposed to anyone outside of his or her daily boundaries, it's like starting from square one. The really bad part is when you teach your child to treat everyone right and love everyone and she comes home saying her day went well in an attempt to not get Mommy upset, but when she falls in a deep sleep, she's crying saying “ “I'm not a Dalmatian, I have Vitiligo” over and over again.

Living in Texas we hadn't seen many kids at all with Vitiligo, so while crying out for help and finding the AVRF, we attended the conference, Cree's self-esteem has taken on a whole new meaning. This year for the first time (after attending the conference), she did her own presentation to her class on Vitiligo. She's made new friends who she can relate too and who encourage her. Everyone in her class comes to her whenever they notice a new spot on their body and she thinks she can now diagnose Vitiligo. She can't wait for the next conference and is saving HER money to help make the trip. Words cannot explain the impact the AVRF has had by providing an educational, esteem-building conference and MOST of all giving HOPE... for CREE and ME. I think this will be her best school year to come!

I don't have supporting statistics, only a myriad of MY life experiences. Coming from a mixed heritage couple and growing up looking different from each of my parents, I encountered ridicule, name-calling and much more. My pre-teen years were the WORST YEARS of my life. I had no support, direction or idea of how to deal with my day-to-day life, which was an enormous weight on a child. Therefore, as a people, community and adults, we OWE it to our children to teach, embrace, and advocate diversity. Diversity is a word often used, but LESS OFTEN embraced. While a child with Vitiligo is different on the outside, they are the same inside and unless their differences are EMBRACED, the damage than can be done is beyond comprehension and sometimes irreversible.