This freshman is coming to Baylor to study the rare condition she’s lived with her whole life

Heaven Cranford has a condition called Moebius Syndrome. It’s a rare neurological condition that affects the facial and eye muscles, leaving a person essentially unable to make facial expressions. On the inside, they could be laughing, crying, angry, confused, anything; but on the outside, all you’d see is a blank face.

Though the syndrome was first discovered in the late 1800s, very little is known about what causes it. Heaven wants to change that.

So this fall, she’s coming to Baylor University as part of the Class of 2023 to study neurology — with the hope of one day unlocking the root causes and possibly treatments for the syndrome she’s lived with all her life.

“The most important thing dealing with my condition has taught me is that people aren’t allowed to tell you what kind of people will be successful … only you can do that,” Heaven said in her salutatorian speech at Sweeny High School, south of Houston. “You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react and what you work toward as a result.”

Sic ’em, Heaven!

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