Dear Katie,
Congratulations to the youngest full facial transplant recipient. It is truly a scientific marvel and feat. Although there are many still criticizing you as a result of National Geographic's new post, there are more of us who are empathizing with you and hoping the best for you in the next steps of your recovery.
You deserve that face just as much as anyone else does. People are so quick to judge, especially those who have never had an intimate relationship with mental health illnesses. Even more so, those who have never had encounters with suicide are being the most judgemental. For those of us who have knowledge of what it's like to be in that situation or know someone who has been in that situation, we understand.
Just because you attempted to take your own life does not make you less of a person. It does not mean you are less deserving of compassion, care, love and the most medically advanced treatments available today.
And those "Christians" who claim you are undeserving because you attempted to take your own life are not correct. They are not talking and helping with the understanding heart Jesus would have. In my opinion as a Christian, just because the Bible condemns suicide does not mean Christians need to condemn people who attempt it. I don't think belittling and furthering someone's mental health issues is very Christian.
Are we now saying that lung cancer patients who quit smoking after 20, 30 or 40 years don't deserve a shot at new, life-saving lungs?1 Or that type 2 diabetes patients don't deserve treatment or any necessary operations? Should we conclude that veterans who were wounded in combat do not deserve our taxpayer dollars that go to the VA to help them? Yeah, that's what I thought. Just because someone has a "self-inflicted" illness, injury or disease you would agree to help them. But only when it's convenient for you and your interests.
Maybe this is why people kill themselves. Maybe this is why some people try to commit suicide multiple times if their first attempt was stopped or failed. This girl does not deserve to be patronized. Even if you are lacking compassion and think this girl deserves some kind of rebuke, I think at this point your input is unnecessary. She receives hundreds of hate messages and comments an hour. The point is moot. She knows she made a mistake. And she knows thousands of people think that and think that she doesn't deserve a new face.
Mental illnesses are not a choice. Someone who attempts to commit suicide does not just go from your average happy person who has never experienced depression to magically waking up and saying, "Today I am going to end my life." Sorry, just not how that works. Mental illness is a thing that develops over time and worsens with each new event that occurs. So, for someone to say that she attempted to kill herself because her boyfriend broke up with her, that is an incredibly shallow and insensitive view of the situation.
