When Meagan Barnard went through
When Meagan Barnard went through puberty, she developed lymphedema in her left leg. Puberty is hard enough for teenage girls and boys, but for Meagan it was even worse. She was teased at school, given terrible nicknames like “Michelin Man”, so she did everything she could to hide her leg.
Then, when Meagan was 24, her left leg swelled to more than twice the size of her right.She refused to even show her leg to her boyfriend, who had no idea she was suffering from lymphedema. Then something happened.After years of not feeling well, Meagan decided to “go public” with her lymphedema.And she even showed her leg in a professional photo shoot. SHARE Lymphedema is a swelling that usually occurs in one of your arms or legs. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is usually caused by the removal or damage of lymph nodes. Image Source For Meagan Barnard,
lymphedema occurred when she was 15 years old. She felt abnormal, lonely and suicidal, refused to talk about it with friends and family, hid her swollen leg in baggy clothes and refused to wear dresses and skirts for over a decade. She was teased and someone at school even shouted: “I didn’t know the Michelin Man went to school here!” Image source Meagan felt so bad that she once wrote a suicide note to her father – she thought she couldn’t take it anymore. Meagan’s left leg holds up to three litres of excess fluid, and once, when she was 24, it swelled to more than twice the size of her right. As she got older, she started dating a guy named Robert Neidenfeuhr. According to the NZ Herald, Meagan managed to hide the lymphoedema from her boyfriend for two years, and then she showed it to the world during a photo shoot. Robert insists he never noticed her swollen leg, even during the most intimate moments of their relationship. 👇🏻 Mr Neidenfohr explained: ‘She was very careful, but I really didn’t notice. There were a lot of closed doors, a lot of lights off – that sort of thing.” The condition caused Meagan to accumulate up to three litres of excess fluid in her leg, causing her to be nicknamed the “Michelin Man”. For years, she hid her leg with a pillow or loose clothing. Image Source Till One Day… A few years ago, Meagan showed her legs for the first time in a decade. She decided to speak openly about her lymphedema in the hope that young girls suffering from the condition wouldn’t have to struggle in silence. Image Source Now Meagan Barnard is showing off her legs in glamour photos – and the results are so good that she’s even being asked to be a model. By showing off her body, Meagan wants to help girls accept themselves for who they are.
