EP79: Finding Inspiration in the Face of Trauma with Brooklinn Khoury

“I remember looking up at myself for the first time. And my cousin kept saying, ‘I’m going to fix this. I'm going to fix this.’ And I literally looked at her and I was like, ‘How are you going to fix this?’ That was the first time I realized my whole upper lip was not there,” shares Brooklinn Khoury, close family friend and professional skateboarder. In November of 2020, Brooklinn suffered a horrific dog attack that disfigured her face. Following the attack was hours of chaos and continual surgeries to try to fix her face. In spite of enduring life altering trauma when she was only 21 years old, Brooklinn manages to maintain a positive outlook and shares her photos and videos on social media to inspire others in similar situations. In today’s episode, host Christi Lukasiak is joined in conversation with Brooklinn Khoury to talk about the attack, the aftermath, and how she manages to stay positive about life. 

 

Brooklinn’s life changed within a matter of seconds when her cousin’s dog, whom she had known for years, suddenly attacked her, biting onto her upper lip and essentially playing tug-of-war with her face. Brooklinn’s cousin did not call for an ambulance or immediately take her to the hospital, but Brooklinn explains that everyone responds to trauma differently and that they were both in shock, not fully understanding the extent of what had just happened. After her initial surgery to close the wounds, she could hardly recognize herself and had to live for years without an upper lip. To this day she is still undergoing corrective surgeries on her nose and lip after searching for a full year for a highly specialized surgeon to take on her case. Prior to the attack, Brooklinn had begun working in modeling for skateboarding companies, appeared in very high profile publications like Vogue, and even was in a music video. After the attack, brands backed out of having her represent them, but even that could not take away her positive outlook. Brooklinn is open about her experiences on social media even in the face of backlash and bullying because if she can inspire even one person, then she is happy. 

 

Tune into this week’s episode of Christi’s Couch to hear Brooklinn’s inspirational story. Learn how she managed to stay strong and maintain a positive attitude in the face of life altering trauma. 

 

Quotes

“You don't really realize what your instincts are going to say until you're in that type of situation.” (27:42-27:58 | Brooklinn)

“She screamed, ‘Oh my God, you're gonna sue me’!” (30:06-30:08 | Brooklinn)

“If she would have put the lips on ice within two minutes, I would have had my lip.” (34:09-34:12 | Brooklinn)

“I remember looking up at myself for the first time. And she kept saying, ‘I’m going to fix this. I'm going to fix this.’ And I literally looked at her and I was like, ‘How are you going to fix this?’ That was the first time I realized my whole upper lip was not there.” (35:51-36:03 | Brooklinn)

“I remember taking off the bandage and looking at myself and I didn't even recognize who I was.” (53:43-53:47 | Brooklinn) 

“My doctor said to me, ‘You got into an accident. You can go two ways about this. One, you can feel bad for yourself, sit on the couch, and hide from everyone. Or you can heal and live your life exactly how you were going to do it anyway’.” (56:39-56:50 | Brooklinn)

“I wanted to be the person that people could refer to like, ‘Hey, this girl is going through something. I can relate to her, and I'm gonna be okay.’  That's all I wanted to do. And if it helped one person, then I was doing something right.” (1:04:21-1:04:30 | Brooklinn)

 

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