Part 2 The surgery took eleven hours. The doctors removed part of my jaw and rebuilt it with a piece of bone from my leg. When I woke up, I couldn’t speak. My face was wrapped, swollen, and numb. There was a tube in my throat, and I couldn’t even ask for a mirror.

The months after were hard.
Radiation. Speech therapy. Learning to eat again, one spoon at a time.
Some mornings I still didn’t want to look in the mirror.

But last spring, I walked my daughter down the aisle.

My face is different now. One side is lower. There are scars along my neck.
And when I smile, it’s a little crooked.

But I smiled.
In every single photo.

Joanna hung one of them in her new home. She says that crooked smile is her favorite smile in the world.

To everyone who prayed for me that night… thank you.
Your prayers carried me into that operating room. And they carried me back out.

If you believe every scar is a story of survival, please send Marianne a ❤️