SAN ANTONIO – A Selma mother recently used a hateful Internet meme using her son's picture to help educate others on his condition, Pfeiffer syndrome.
Alice Anne Meyer is the blogger of Jameson’s Journey, where she explains what it’s like to have a son challenged by not only facial deformities but also the internal, physical malformations that force him to face surgery throughout his childhood.
Last month, she discovered a meme with a photo stolen from her blog site that was being used to make fun of her son's craniofacial syndrome.
“It was basically comparing him to a dog because of the way his facial features are -- just making fun of the way he looks," Meyer said.
But though she got rid of it, the Internet nightmare continued.
“We got it taken down. Then someone said, 'It's on this one too.' And that's when my heart sank and I realized it really is out there. Then after a few more days went by and people were finding more of them, I thought, 'I really want to do something,'" she said.
What she did was turn it around on the Internet trolls by taking her anger and the cyberattention the memes were creating, and turning into an awareness campaign.
Her blog struck back and the genetic disorder is getting a lot more attention nationwide.
“Since that happened, and so many people have read his story and have contacted me to say, 'I'm truly sorry. I actually shared that meme and I never knew he had Pfeiffer’s syndrome,’" Myer said.
Now, tens of thousands of people know about the condition and know, perhaps more importantly, that for every sarcastic meme, there may be a little boy out there who is fighting a disease, hoping for understanding.