article_snippet.sent: I really don't think I knew that I didn't look like everybody else," Mui Thomas says.
article_snippet.sent: Mui Thomas can't sweat
article_snippet.sent: but Mui Thomas can shed tears.
article_snippet.sent: On the day we speak, Mui Thomas appearance raises few eyebrows at Mui Thomas local Starbucks in Sai Kung
article_snippet.sent: Mui Thomas's a familiar and well-known presence in the waterfront Hong Kong town where Mui Thomas grew up.
article_snippet.sent: Mui Thomas's struggle to come to terms with Mui Thomas condition and other people's reactions to it has, at times, left Mui Thomas on the brink of suicide.
article_snippet.sent: But, now 22, Mui Thomas refuses to let it get in the way of Mui Thomas life --
article_snippet.sent: Mui Thomas has a full-time job, plays sport and is embarking on a career as public speaker -- educating and inspiring others about the challenges of looking "visibly different.
article_snippet.sent: They were told Mui Thomas didn't have long to live.
article_snippet.sent: At times, Mui Thomas considered jumping from the balcony of Mui Thomas home.
article_snippet.sent: They'd say things like 'You shouldn't have been born' -- and very personal things that only people who knew me would know," Mui Thomas says.
article_snippet.sent: Since leaving school, Mui has found a full-time job working with people with special needs and at weekends can be found running around a rugby pitch with a whistle -- Mui's a referee for kids' matches.
highlights_snippet.sent: Mui Thomas's now 22, a rugby referee and an inspirational speaker .