The 27-year-old from Austin, Texas, who has spoken out against bullying, was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome by the Baylor College of Medicine. She has zero percent body fat and is medically unable to gain weight. Additionally, she is blind in in her right eye and vision-impaired in her left eye. Doctors told her parents, at birth that she would never speak or walk. The doctors were wrong. In fact, at 27, she does both professionally. HuffPost described her as a "seasoned motivational speaker and a "self-professed pacer" while she speaks on stage"
"There were many times where I was so frustrated and angry. I didn’t know who to blame or who to get angry at. I made every birthday wish, I lit every candle at church and did every prayer before bed. I said ‘God, please take this all away from me. Please make me normal," Velasquez told the crowd during one of her speaking engagements last year.Velasquez has written two books, 'Be Beautiful, Be You and 'Choosing Happiness' directed towards teenagers, which share personal stories from her life and offer advice and talks about obstacles she has faced in her life and how she's learned the importance of choosing to be happy when it's all too easy to give up.
Growing up in Texas, Velasquez was teased, gawked at or sometimes downright ignored. She remembers her first day of kindergarten and noticing for the first time in her life that other kids were scared of her. She went home and asked her parents what was wrong with her.