A Journey of Healing and Redemption
About Face Synopsis

Mary’s Personal Ties To Gwen’s Story

Written by Mary

Gwendellin grew up next to me in Anchorage Alaska in the early 1980's. I first became aware of her when I heard rocks being thrown at her outside my kitchen window. She was three years old.

I chased off the neighborhood boys, and that was the start of a lifelong relationship. Gwen didn't speak any words for the entire first year I knew her; she simply came and hung out while I worked in my garden. Eventually a deeper bond developed. Since she had no mother and I no children, I helped her with everything from school clothing to socialization. Because music was obviously her gift, I helped arrange to get her a scholarship to college and a violin donated by the state of Alaska.

It amazed me that throughout her schooling, not a single teacher flagged her as someone who might need or want help. Her father was an obstacle as well, refusing the free plastic surgery I had fought to line up for her.

Gwen couldn't wait to be on her own, but she was ill equipped to face the real world, and crashed hard when she finally moved away from her hometown. Not long after, she attempted suicide. When she called me from the hospital, she said, “I want to find my mom, I want to understand what happened and why, and I want you to make a film about it.”

Thus began our five-year journey of healing, redemption, ups and downs, crashes and elation as Gwen finally got the answers she so desperately needed.

As a filmmaker who has lived and worked in Alaska for the past 25 years, I was excited to have a story like this to tell. Little did I know how much I would learn about mental illness, burn survivors, post-partum psychosis, and co-dependency. As I raise my young son, I carefully sculpt a world for him designed to avoid the horrible pitfalls that a lack of good parenting and wellness in the home can create. I speak out to others when I see signs of mental illness, particularly when a young child is at risk.

I didn’t realize what real problems were until I met Gwen. Consider the handicaps of facial disfigurement and a missing ear and fingers, then take strength from her amazing grace in the face of all of this, and you can only appreciate what life has given you. It is impossible to be untouched by Gwen’s story.