This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

And we continue with our American stories.

And up next we have the story of Chloe Howard.

Chloe has written two books and has spoken internationally, all before graduating high school.

Here's Chloe with her story.

I've had nine surgeries or nine major surgeries.

I, for the past 20 years, have lived with a very severe congenital foot deformity.

So when I was born, my foot was upside down and backwards. I had my first surgery when I was

six months old and then my most recent surgery, December of 2018. And a large part of my identity was being the girl

that's different, you know, the one that shows up to school in a bright pink cast, the one that

has to ask older classmen in high school to, like, hold the door open for me so I can wheel

myself through on a wheelchair. Crutches were something that I was

very used to, was just used to being the person that was different. But my parents, because of their

faith, the minute I was born, it just was this foundation of gratitude. It was like, wow, like she's here. I wasn't supposed to be

born alive. Wow, Chloe's here. And the foot, okay, interesting, a really cool curveball. We will get

through this. Wow. How beautiful is this thing that we get to celebrate. How cool is this difference

that we get to experience now. I remember being very young, probably three or four,

and looking out at my feet outstretched in front of me and being so in awe of just the way my feet

looked, my growing collection of scars and all the points on my toes where toenails should be but weren't.

Consistently, I just was proud of my feet and what they were going through.

And I do have these memories of going on daddy-daughter dates to see my surgeon and having kids in my classes

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