This thing called Vitiligo (vit-ill-EYE-go). I am "Mosaic". I lived over 30years before Vitiligo entered my life. Vitiligo Support International, Inc. (VSI) defines Vitiligo as a pigmentation disorder in which melanocytes (the cells that make pigment) in the skin are destroyed. To me, it is simply the biological terrorist that is slowly robbing me of my beauty. At least that is how I felt at the beginning. One little spot on my second finger on my left hand that mysteriously appeared two months after my Puerto Rican vacation. No big deal, it was just a little spot. I thought it would eventually go away. The spot just existed for two months. During that time, I did see a few doctors. Two months later after starting a very stressful job and enduring a drastic life change; all ten fingers from my finger-tips to my knuckles and all of my toes were white! Now four months after the first little white spot, even before the results of the biopsy, I knew I had it. What else could be fading my beautiful brown skin? The doctor just confirmed what had become my worst fear.
Oh my God, I don’t want to end up looking like Michael Jackson! I was so depressed after the diagnosis. More spots slowly kept appearing. Lucky for me, fall was right around the corner and I had a blast. All of my friends thought that I was handling my fading very well, and I was because I could cover up. By the time winter rolled around, I was excited to be in my long sweaters, scarves, gloves, hats - gorgeous accessories to outsiders. For me, the perfect way to hide the freak show that I was becoming. I had my first ski vacation that year and loved it. Everyone was covered from head to toe, so I blended right in. The skiing was pretty fun too.
Spring brought about lighter clothing, but I could wear long sleeves, so I was still comfortable. Then, what I had been dreading, summer. I live in Houston, Texas. Need I say more? I had to get myself together because surely I couldn’t spend the entire summer inside and I definitely couldn’t continue with the long sleeves and long pants. That’s when I found VSI on the web. Just about a year after I detected my first white spot, I attended my first VSI conference and I met people from all around the world with this condition, including Lee Thomas. I had seen Lee’s story on 20/20. In person, he was such a gentle spirit and all around nice guy. I happened to sit at his table during dinner that first night. I absorbed all that positive energy, hope, and will to fight. Everyone I met at the conference had that same energy and they all became an inspiration. During that weekend, something about me changed. I wanted to exude the same positive energy that I had witnessed. How can I turn Vitiligo into something positive? Mosaic Life Online is my first step towards answering that question.
