Bullying can have a huge effect on a person’s self-esteem. It’s something that Jessica McDaniels from St. Louis, Missouri knows first hand.
She was teased pretty much her whole life as a result of her crooked teeth — it was the worst when she was growing up.
By the time she reached adulthood though, she thought she was past all that.
However, it turns out that adults are just as capable of making hateful comments as the kids, especially when they can hide behind the guise of anonymity. That’s what McDaniels learned recently after posting a few online engagement photos on her Facebook.
Thousands of online bullies seemingly appeared out of nowhere to mock her beaming smile.
It all started when two of McDaniels’s friends got engaged.
A photo of the engagement was posted on social media. In the background was McDaniels, watching and recording the whole beautiful moment with a giant smile on her face. She was so happy for her friends. She never would have guessed that her smile would end up stealing the spotlight away from them.
Immediately, the bullies began sharing a closeup zoomed in on her teeth.
They completely ignored the engagement that was taking place. All they cared about was getting their laughs in at her expense.
“I didn’t care about them talking about me – I just wanted to protect my kids,” said McDaniels with tears running down her face.
The 32-year-old single mom and hairdresser was used to the negative attention.
McDaniels’s adult teeth came in late as a child. While most kids’ permanent teeth begin forming around 6 years of age, McDaniels didn’t get hers until around age 12. When they did finally come in, they came in crooked and with an extreme overbite. She had no control over it.
Despite this fact, she still apologized to her two friends anyway for ruining their engagement photo.
It went viral for extremely cruel reasons and she felt that her presence had ultimately taken away from their special moment. In addition, she worried that the bullies would start harassing her kids as well.
What the online bullies didn’t realize was that McDaniels would actually love to get her teeth fixed.
However, it was never possible for her due to financial limitations. The corrective surgery she would need was very expensive. It would cost thousands of dollars out of pocket to pay for… thousands of dollars that she didn’t have.
That’s when McDaniels’s friend from high school decided to start a GoFundMe page to try and help.
“I think that it is sad that most of the people that are reposting and doing this cyberbullying are adults. JESSICA has struggled with this issue and has been teased for most of life about her teeth,” the page reads.
“Instead of criticizing and tearing Jessica down, let’s support her dream of making her smile perfect.”
There was a beautiful showing of support from the community, and immediately, the donations began flooding in. It didn’t take long for the money to start adding up. However, in the end, it turns out that the $10,000 they were seeking wasn’t even necessary!
After McDaniel’s story was shared by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, thousands of additional people began contacting her offering to help.
They wanted to show that there are just as many kind and amazing people out there as there are hateful bullies.
One of those people was Dr. Maryann Udy from Northwest Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgeons. Based on the photos, the doctor knew that the surgery McDaniel’s required would be long, complicated, and take multiple visits to complete. Yet, she offered to fix her smile free of charge. It was an extremely generous offer that McDaniels couldn’t pass up.
A few days later, she headed into the oral surgery center to begin the first step of the process. It was going to require bone remodeling as well as dental implants. The entire surgery would take around two hours, plus there would be swelling and discomfort afterward for several months.
Luckily, everything went smoothly.
Although, afterward, she did suffer a lot of horrible pain. It was so bad that she wasn’t even able to chew with her front teeth for a while. However, in the end, it was all worth it.
The before and after pictures are pretty incredible. While McDaniels never let her teeth get in the way of her happiness in the past, there is no denying that a few months after the surgery, she was absolutely glowing.
When asked about her old smile she had this to say:
“I loved her,” McDaniels said referring to her previous self.
She never let the bullying get to her and always maintained a positive attitude. Yet, that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t still very excited about the results of the procedure.
“I looked good before,” said McDaniels. “I look even better now.”
It’s such an amazing conclusion to the story and we are so happy about how things turned out for McDaniels. The bullies had no idea that their hateful words would inspire so much kindness in the community. However, that’s exactly what happened. Thousands of people came together to assist her, and ultimately, they changed her life.
Check out the beautiful before and after photos below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
