The story of Marisel Apatan from the Philippines, who lives in Manila, shows that a person can achieve their dreams no matter the circumstances. Despite having no fingers, Marisel delicately slices strawberries and grapes, creates beautiful cream decorations, and turns pastry making into an art, producing true masterpieces.
Exactly 24 years ago, on September 25, 2000, Marisel experienced a day she will never forget. When the 11-year-old girl and her uncle were returning from fetching water, four men attacked them with knives. They forced the uncle and the niece to lie face down on the ground and, in one stroke, decapitated her relative right in front of the girl's eyes. The young girl screamed in horror: «Don't kill me!» However, the men were indifferent to the girl's pleas. One of them stabbed her in the neck, and then she lost consciousness.
The girl pretended to be lifeless, and that saved her life. Once her uncle's killers had left, Marisel ran to her home. As she ran, she felt her hand fingers were like lifeless sticks. Apatan burst into tears, but she kept running. She fainted several times, fell, but got back up each time. When the girl reached home, her mother took her to the hospital.
The doctors doubted Marisel would survive upon seeing her condition. They operated on her for 5 hours; the cut on her neck had reached the back, and she had lost a lot of blood. However, the difficulties for the girl and her mother did not end there. Due to their poverty, they could not afford the hospital bills. Moreover, the attackers had burned down their house.
Difficulties continued at school – her peers mocked and made her cry. Eventually, she came to terms with her disability – learning to do household chores and even write without her fingers.
In 2008, she graduated from college with a degree in "hotel and restaurant management". Later on, Marisel got married. Currently, she has a family, a child, and her own pastry business.
"I have loved cooking since I was seven years old," she says in her interviews. Notably, despite being the only student with a disability in her course, she excelled. She did not expect help from anyone but, instead, participated alongside others in contests for decorating sweets and cakes.
Marisel now works as a chef in a five-star hotel and prepares wonderful pastry products.
