My son Benji was born with a lymphangioma on his right cheek. He says "I've had it since I was born and it doesn't hurt". 

Always a confident and bright kid, Benji never allowed his face to prevent him playing, making friends or enjoying lots of activities.

Benji has always been on the receiving end of well meant comments and occasionally, rude remarks. He started school in September and sadly, bullying and name calling started. Benji became sad, shy and lost his confidence. He would often cry at night and didn't want to go to school.

I live in Yorkshire, and it is just me and Benji. My family live far away and being a single mum is hard, supporting a small child through bullying is harder.

I search online for help and discovered Changing Faces. They have transformed our lives. Benji's counsellor has given him proactive, positive tools to help him face the tough playground and helped him understand why some people call names or can be mean sometimes, and other times they can be nice. These are incredible life skills for anyone and Changing Faces have helped Benji learn them, whilst still so very young.

Benji and I have been exploring treatment options for his Lymphangioma, which also brings uncertainty and questions. Changing Faces have helped us with this too. 

Benji went through a period where he didn't want to have any treatment because I had taught him that through having this uniquie condition he was helping educate all the children at school and all their families so that if they ever met anyone else with a facial disfigurement they might not stare, they might not call them names or be rude - they might just ask " Is that a lymphangioma? My friend Benji has one of them. Do you want to play?".