Krista Miranda

By Krista Miranda

LifeBuzz Staff

He Was Bullied For The Way He Looked, But Now He Is An Inspiration To All.

The beautiful thing about living as a human on planet Earth is being able to see how incredibly different each and every person is. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it the same way. There are way too many people out there that judge others on the way they look, dress, and live their lives, and instead of worrying about themselves, some decide to bully those that are different. It's a sad fact that many people who get bullied end up trying to take their own lives because they can't handle the constant feeling of being hated. This man was one of those people, but instead of giving up, he pushed through and became a huge success!

37-year-old Dr. Michael Goodman understands what it means to be different than others, and for a long time, it affected his life in a negative way.

You see, Dr. Goodman was born with a condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome. Treacher Collins syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects the way facial bones develop. “The mutation responsible for the syndrome affects the development of the external ears, middle ear bones, cheekbones, and lower jaw,” explained Dr. Goodman. Despite not having any control over his condition, kids gave him an extremely hard time.

He didn't have it easy when he was a young boy in high school.

The children were cruel and he couldn't even walk down the halls of his high school without hearing the whispers and snickers of his tormentors. In fact, his life had gotten so bad he had considered taking his own life on more than one occasion.


BullyingNewsVideos / YouTube

Despite his struggles as a child, Dr. Goodman is now living in Indianapolis and working as a pediatrician.

He loves ice hockey and ice cream, and he also loves the book "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio. The book is definitely a good read, but it also speaks out to those that suffer from Treacher Collins Syndrome.

The book, which was turned into a movie, shows what life is like for a person with a facial deformity.

As it turns out, the movie spoke right to Dr. Goodman's heart. “I have experienced 75% of the social struggles Auggie dealt with, plus attempted suicide twice my senior year of high school in addition to a family not allowing me to take care of their child as a physician due to my appearance and my speech," he said about the movie.

As strange as it may seem, people that have Treacher Collins syndrome have a difficult time creating relationships, which you can see in the movie "Wonder."

“People with facial deformities want to be treated like any other normally developed person: respected, even loved," explained Dr. Goodman on Love What Matters. Even though he experienced a lot of heartbreak when he was a child, he turned his life into something beautiful.

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