For mom of two Cheryl Shaw, a lifelong skin pigmentation condition has gone from being the source of bullying to one of the reasons she landed a modeling contract in the United Kingdom.
Birmingham-based Shaw, 34, has a skin condition called giant congenital melanocytic nevus. It causes her body to produce dark non-cancerous patches of skin formed by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes. The condition isn’t harmful, though the marks that appear—often on an individual’s arms, legs, and torso—are present for life, and people aren’t necessarily always kind about it.
