Lizzie, the girl with the most beautiful mind

 Elizabeth Ann 

"Lizzie" Velásquez 

is an American woman whose extremely rare medical condition has led her to become an author and motivational speaker.

Velazquez has a condition that is so rare that only two other people are known to have it.She has zero percent body fat and has never weighed more than 64 pounds (29 kg). Although Velazquez is not anorexic, she is unable to gain weight and is required to eat many small meals and snacks throughout the day. Her daily energy intake of about 5,000 kilocalories compares with the US average of 3,770. She is blind in her right eye, which began to cloud over when she was four years of age, and has limited vision in the other. She has a weak immune system. Her condition is similar to many other conditions, especially progeria. However, her condition is not terminal. Involved medical researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have expressed the opinion that it may be a form of neonatal progeroid syndrome, which at least has spared her healthy bones, organs, and teeth. It is thought she should be able to conceive naturally without passing the condition to her children.

She made her national debut on Maury in 2009, and a YouTube clip grabbed from the show titled “Most Ugly Woman in the World” has garnered almost 5 million hits.

“When people say…’you should die’ and ‘I hope you don’t spread your genes everywhere,’” her friend explained, “it’s just like, ‘Oh my God! There’s like, it’s just…ugh! You know?”

This is how she defines herself:

“What makes me the most mad is when adults do it.  When little kids do it, it’s ok, because they’re little kids they don’t know better…they don’t have a filter…but if it’s an adult, they really should know better,” Velasquez said, as her only complaint. Someone emailed her: “Hi Lizzie, I was just looking at your picture and you are very ugly.  How are you a cheerleader?”

But rather than let the criticism define or break her, Velasquez has interpreted the insults as a challenge.

Someone even emailed her: “Hi Lizzie, I was just looking at your picture and you are very ugly.  How are you a cheerleader?”

Here is the whole story from Lizzie itself:

Her first published work was her co-authored and self-published autobiography released in 2010 in English and Spanish.

Her second book, Be Beautiful, Be You (2012), advocates informing people that appearance doesn't matter and that one should love oneself for who one is.