This is a story to inspire you to reach for your dreams. Many years ago I came a close 2nd in the Miss Brazil 1949 competition. Later that year I emigrated and was beset by a long period of bad luck. I suffered years of drug and alcohol abuse and a series of eating disorders. I lost a leg and needed facial reconstruction surgery after a road traffic accident. Later, I suffered 90% burns in an unprovoked acid attack. Several of my teeth were knocked out and an eye gouged in a bitch fight outside a Chicken Cottage. The stress caused severe hair loss and facial warts. But I never stopped believing. And then finally last week I was crowned Miss newcastle 2013
