BEING born with “half a face” has not stopped Myalup man Joel Whitwell from living out his dreams.
Mr Whitwell was born with a cranial deficiency which left him with just one eye, one ear and a number of facial disfigurements.
But three world trips down and now on the cusp of publishing an autobiography, he said he has never let his appearance stand in the way of living life to the fullest.
Born in Harvey on January 14, 1979, Mr Whitwell underwent about 20 facial surgeries as a young child – including having one of his ribs taken out to be surgically attached to his face at the age of 10.
“It was hard going through so many operations as a kid but I had plenty of support from my parents – they never hid me from the world.”
Mr Whitwell said despite being surrounded by accepting people for the majority of his childhood, he had to adapt to people staring at him once he left high school.
“I was always quite a popular kid in high school and I had plenty of friends,” he said.
“But after leaving high school and starting to go out to pubs and social events, I realised people would stare at me a fair bit.
"After leaving high school and starting to go out to pubs and social events, I realised people would stare at me a fair bit."
- Joel Whitwell
“I had just to accept it, shrug it off and move on.”
In his autobiography, Mr Whitwell writes of a harsh encounter he endured at the Harvey Hotel shortly after he turned 22.
After noticing his friends having a conversation with a man at the bar, he walked over to join the group.
As he went to introduce himself, the man told Mr Whitwell that he had the ugliest face he’d ever seen and that he would kill himself if he looked that way.
“That was really the first time anyone ever said something like that to me,” he said.
“I kind of just stood there for a little bit and then walked out.
“I drove up to the old Harvey Weir and sat there thinking about it for a long time.”
But despite the abuse, Mr Whitwell said he simply had to “get on with life”.
The first time he went travelling was a trip to Sydney with his good friend Paul Jones.
“We basically just went on a sight-seeing trip to Sydney and drank lots of beer,” Mr Whitwell said.
“We had plans to go all over the world.”
But Mr Jones passed away on October 19, 2003, before the pair could fulfil their plans.
Mr Whitwell said the passing hit him hard, but he felt compelled to live out their travel plans.
“It was PJ’s passing that sort of prompted my travels – I needed to get out and see the world,”
“It was PJ’s passing that sort of prompted my travels – I needed to get out and see the world,”
- Joel Whitwell
The first world trip he went on was in 2004, where he was accompanied by his father Gordon on a trip to Canada.
Five years later he set out on his second adventure, spending three weeks in Scotland before returning to Canada for five weeks.
It was then only three years before he was on a plane once again, again revisiting Canada and Scotland.
Mr Whitwell said the friends he met and memories he made on his travels will always be more prominent than any negative times he has experienced in his life.
"I've made so many friends along the way - sure I have a couple of regrets and made some bad decisions, but the good times really do outweigh the bad," he said.
"Seeing to Golden Gate Bridge was a childhood dream of mine and that's just one of many I've been lucky enough to experience.
"I'm always telling people to live life to the fullest and boost it up, so I hope my story can help spread that message across."
Mr Whitwell said he wants people to be inspired by his autobiography.
“I want people to know that not everything is about looks,” he said.
“We live in an extremely superficial world and I want people to know they can achieve their dreams no matter what they look like – look at me, I managed.”
Mr Whitwell expects to finish his auto biography by the end of this year.
