RACHAEL MEETS HER IDOL

How the make-up guru left the teen gob smacked!

Rachael Cox is just like any other 18-year-old Kiwi girl who loves getting glammed up. But unlike most teens, Rachael faces the daily challenge of battling cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening illness that damages the lungs and digestive system, as well as giving her prediabetes.

At 15, make-up became her escape. The Dunedin-based student remembers, “I could change how I looked and be so much more confident about myself with make-up. Now it’s become my creative outlet and it’s so therapeutic.”

So when the Make a Wish Foundation set up a trip for Rachael to fly to Melbourne and visit the Karen Murrell lipstick factory, she was over the moon. But it wasn’t until she arrived that she realised there was more to the surprise.

“They had designed my own custom lipstick shade!” says Rachael. “I was completely overwhelmed and so excited.”

This week the teen will be able to see her lippy, featuring her illustrated image on the packaging, go on sale in stores across New Zealand. But the most rewarding part for Rachael is that all proceeds will be donated to Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand and Make a Wish.

“I burst into tears when Karen told me that,” tells Rachael, who was diagnosed with the condition at birth. “I get this magnificent thing for myself but it’s also going to help other people. It was so special to me and so generous of Karen and everyone involved.”

Readmylips!

The kindness was overwhelming for Rachael as it’s not something she’s always experienced throughout her life dealing with the disease.

“There’s so much nastiness in the world, even in my daily life I encounter so many jerks,” she admits. “It’s not strangers, but my supposed friends who have made really insensitive comments about it. I’ll cough and someone will say it’s gross. They just don’t understand. I’ve even had people say to me, ‘Oh, at least you don’t have cancer.’ That’s just so incredibly insensitive and rude.”

It’s at the end of our interview that Rachael admits she was very hesitant about sharing her story. In the past she’s avoided talking about having cystic fibrosis because she doesn’t want to be defined by her illness.

She explains, “I’m on an academic scholarship studying music and pharmacology, and that’s what I want people to know me for. But if doing this and speaking out can help other people going through the same thing, that’s amazing. That’s more important and bigger than I am.”