Newspaper columnist, Victor Whitman, interviewed Candace Battiste and Miriam Jacobs this week...
By Victor Whitman
Times Herald-Record
November 30, 2008
BETHEL — When she was 2, Candace Battiste would come upon a group of kids and they would run.
She followed at their heels, smiling, trying to catch up. Candace could not understand why they wouldn't play with her.
But kids called her ugly. At the Smallwood post office, a little girl stared at Candace and said, "Mommy, look at that monkey girl!"
Candace was born with a rare skin condition, Giant Congenital Nevus, a mole that covered one side of her face. She has been through a lot in nine years. But that's just one reason why her grandmother, Miriam "Mimi" Jacobs, a Sullivan County poet, wrote a book about her.
Even now, when Candace goes to Wal-Mart, people focus on the marks and scarring on her face. Candace crosses her arms and stares back at the adults until they look away.
"They don't bug me; they just stare," she said. "Fine."
In 2007, Jacobs finished "My Name is Not Monkey Girl," an illustrated children's book, in tribute to a girl who never let anything get her down.
Candace, now 9, is a Girl Scout with many friends at school. At home, she plays with makeup and watches "America's Next Top Model." She wants to meet Tyra Banks.
Because the condition is so rare, afflicting one in every 200,000 babies, Jacobs wanted to raise awareness among children and adults, who could be cruel. Jacobs also wrote the book to raise money. Proceeds will go to help pay for future surgeries, which are being done by a specialist in Chicago.
The family's out-of-pocket expenses to date have been about $30,000. They estimate it will cost another $10,000 per surgery. Candace has had 13 reconstructive surgeries and needs about five more.
But another reason Jacobs wrote a book about Candace is Candace. She has never cared who looked. She dreams of walking along a fashion runway with all eyes on her.
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