RB in Lebanon – harrowing report from a victim
We have been in close contact with Lynn Tarabey from Beirut for many years.
We were very moved by her story.
I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma when I turned two years.
I was treated at the Children’s Cancer Center in Lebanon and I was the first child with retinoblastoma to be treated in Lebanon.
I am in the last stages of my university studies in the field of nursery education and I have a degree in writing structural texts and a degree in keligraphic writing.
I own my own store on the Internet to sell paintings.
I drew 45 paintings when I was a teenager and I discovered that I had a talent.
Some bullyiers said: Lynn, who has one eye, cannot draw and cannot open an exhibition to display paintings.
Now I want to tell them: Lynn, who has one eye and a prosthetic, opened her own store!
I have a younger brother and I love him because he is spiritual in every sense of the word.
My father is a police man.
He is very caring and a great dad.
My mother quit her job when I was sick.
She is a strong, loving, patient and caring mother.
I had harsh love experiences. The first boy I loved has left me because of the shape of my face and my second experience also ended in failure because he was critical of me and he did not like my photos. Even worse: one day in the summer I was at a wedding and a young mother came and said to me: “I will only marry my son to a beautiful girl to give birth to beautiful children.” They think that my children will be born with an eye similar to my artificial eye. And once I was in the supermarket and I saw a pregnant woman, (it is worth noting that my dream is to be a mother.) I was looking at her with admiration, then her sister told me: “Don’t look at her so the child will be born like you with one eye.” And the story did not end here: one the day I was in a public place playing with a beautiful child, suddenly his mother came and said to him: “Don’t speak to her and do not approach this girl in order not to get sick like her illness and the shape of your face will become like her.”
THESE ARE WOUNDS THAT WILL NOT BE DELETED FROM MY MEMORY UNTIL THE DAY OF MY DEATH.
I ended up with psychotherapy.
I thought I was wrong, and they are correct, but vice versa.
The Child Cancer Center in Lebanon was next to me from the beginning and a Circle Champions of cancer survivors has been established to encourage all who ended up with this disease in the end.
I only know two other retinoblastoma cases, because this type is very rare in Lebanon.
We are stronger than a society that is full of prejudices against cancer survivors.
Together we fight in order to prove to the world that we are strong.
I came to this life to leave a mark behind me when I leave.
I hope that history reminds us of two lines and speaks of the pain we went through to inspire people and give them a glimpse of hope.
I believe that at the end of the tunnel there is light.
Yes, it is the light of a happy life awaiting us.
I dream that one day I will travel to Germany to meet friends who have the same disease like me.
I was so happy to join KAKS on Zoom.
I felt that they are my family and that they accept me as I am.
More dreams: to open a Montessori school to educate a new generation of warm hearted and benevolent and kind people in Lebanon.
And I remember when I first got Elli – this gift that I love the most in my heart and that at the same time aims to educate children about the fact that people all over the world come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
I thank you KAKS from the bottom of my heart, one by one for our friendship that is so strong even though we are thousands of kilometers apart from each other.
I yearn to see you one day.
Soon.
With all my love for you Lyne Tarabey from Beirut, Lebanon.