The Hero Interviews – Tiffany Swift

Tiffany Swift is the co-founder of the HERO (Health Educators Responsible Options) organization with Director Pam Culliton and other student members on the Maryville University campus. She is currently working on using some of the Hero Workshop lesson plans to help local youth. Many of her heroes come from the fact that she was born with severe co-genital birth defects.  I’ll let her explain.

1) Who was your hero as a child and why?

My childhood hero was Wonder Woman, due to her beauty and strength in spirit and her Lasso of Truth because I saw so many deceitful people as I was growing up and would have loved for all of them to just tell the truth.

For the true heroes of my life, I have to give tribute to many; they were ordinary people that have done extraordinary things by going out of their way or just doing the right thing for humanity. These are people who participated from my birth to where I am now in my life’s journey. I was born with Brancial-Occular-Facial Syndrome, rare co-genital birth defects, and because of that I owe my parents for not losing hope in my survival at birth. I owe much to the heroism in the team of doctors starting with my late Grandfather, Dr. Swift, continuing on with Dr. Bear, Dr. Toller, and Dr. Hall who surrounded me and gave my parents hope that I had a chance to live some kind of life even if they didn’t know what might lie ahead of me.

Later my team of doctors expanded from the UCSF Medical Center to a life-long team of doctors who I owe deep gratitude of giving me hope, a desire to be more, and inner strength to keep moving forward- they are Dr. Arute and Dr. McKennon (who gave me a chance to hear), Dr. Patton (who gave me Wonder Woman’s beauty), Dr. Bock (for reconstruction of extensive dental work), Dr. Young and Dr. Friedman (for taking care of my eyes), Dr. Grix for giving me hope for my future generations and Dr. Beckerdite for making sure my heart stays strong to this day.

I have been through numerous surgeries; and I had to rely on people to learn what I couldn’t learn in school. I had to grow up quickly and gain street smarts to be able to stand up for myself. My heroes with my education are Mr. Moores- who pushed my intellect that science wasn’t just for boys; Dr. Seaman- who introduced me to my calling in Psychology; Dr. Zimbardo- the famous Stanford Prison Experiment influenced me to keep focus on my life long commitment of observing people and staying focus on helping people find themselves. Also, the late Dr. McGee, a woman with incredible dedication and great passion for her love of psychology and teaching students to go beyond and above their true potential, for she guided me as my advisor and mentor right until she passed; and I will always be grateful for the gift she gave me during the lowest time of my life when I didn’t know where to turn.

Finally, my closest heroes are my paternal Grandmother who taught me trust, affection, and love when no one else was available; and to my girls who show me ever day that anything is possible through the eyes of children if you take the time to believe that simple things in life just might be the answer you are looking for. And to my partner Peter who challenges me daily on standing up for my core beliefs and values, to never settle when morality is being questioned.

I don’t know where I would be now if it weren’t for the people who along the way took time to stop and reach out. I work hard every day to give back what was given to me because only then we can live up to our true potential of what humanity means- striving to be better than yesterday not only as biological beings, but as spiritual ones as well.

2) Who is your hero now and why?

My hero of today would be Angelina Jolie because she uses her celebrity influence in a good way to promote change in the world.