It is easy to feel left out, discriminated against, and inferior when you look different from your peers. Mahogany Geter has lymphedema that caused her left leg to swell horribly. The 23-year-old Texan has been bullied and trolled for years for her condition.
She made a reaction video to a hurtful question that was hurled at her.
“Why don’t you amputate your leg, ‘it will look better,’” she wrote in the caption. Aside from this, Mahogany reveals that she’s also been called other mean things.
“It has been so hard to rise above these mean people, but I have no other choice.”
Mahogany has always experienced low self-esteem because of how people treated her with name-callings. But she found support in the lymphedema community and especially from her family. It was thanks to her mother, Timika Geter, did she realized how she’s beautiful outside and inside. “It means I can try my best to inspire other people to accept themselves and see how beautiful they are.”
But it gets overwhelming sometimes. When she feels low, she “takes steps now to build herself up.” But what she absolutely does to feel better during low times is talking to her mother because “she’s like my therapist.”
Mahogany Geter now works as an inspiring model!
Lymphedema is when excess fluids build up, commonly in the limbs due to a blockage in the lymphatic system. There is no cure for this condition yet, and it could develop into lymphangiosarcoma. She was diagnosed with this condition shortly after birth. At its worst, the excess fluids can add up to 100 lbs or around 45.3 kg to her weight. As a child she’d ‘never felt pretty.’
“I used to think God had cursed me,” she shared an honest account of her childhood memories.
“I felt ugly, like a freak of nature, and cried in private so many times. Then I decided that I was given this condition because I am emotionally strong and I can handle it.”
“Since then, I have been learning to accept and celebrate myself.”
Currently, Mahogany is focusing on physiotherapy to help her leg get better. She now spends more time drawing, listening to music, or creating video content on TikTok or YouTube. But from time to time, she has to deal with skin infections around areas where it swells. “It does get frustrating dealing with flare-ups because I just want to live my life more freely, and it feels like I can’t.”
Her dream is to buy her mother a house! When she’s more financially stable, she wishes to give back to those who’ve supported her all these times and raise awareness on lymphedema.
