'Thank you so much.' Lamise ElBetar says goodbye to Akron, her second home | Brave Face
Eight years after arriving in Akron on a scholarship, an Egyptian woman who has inspired many with her honesty about her “facial difference” is preparing to leave the country.
Lamise (pronounced Lah-meese) ElBetar has been featured in several Beacon Journal articles since 2018 chronicling her journey and the outpouring of support she's received from Greater Akron and the University of Akron community.
It’s not the first time she has faced a deadline to leave the country and her adopted second home of Akron. She had a plane ticket to leave on Dec. 30, 2020, because she had run out of time on her visa, but after a Beacon Journal article about her was read nationally and internationally, she landed three job offers.
This time, however, Lamise, 38, must leave the country for at least a year. Although she had a full-time job, the rules of her visa require her to live outside the U.S for one more year before she can apply for and return on another visa.
She is scheduled to leave on Aug. 27.
Lamise ElBetar's story: From Egypt to Akron
Lamise was born with a condition called a venous malformation, described by doctors as a “jungle” of intertwined veins and muscle. It was about the size of a pimple at birth but has continued to grow all her life and causes the lower right side of her face and the majority of her lips to protrude. Lamise had given up hope to treat her medical condition until Team Lamise, a group of university and community members, rallied around her.
Lamise first came to Akron and UA on a scholarship in 2015 through a federal program that helps Egyptian women earn MBAs. She earned a second graduate degree from UA in supply chain management and completed an internship at FedEx Custom Critical in Green in 2020.
The team has helped guide Lamise in her journey to get insurance and medical treatment for her facial difference. Lamise was able to get four treatments at Boston Children’s Hospital, which was recommended to her by several other doctors at various hospitals where she has consulted. She used funds donated by readers and community members in a GoFundMe for her medical bills since her student insurance did not cover the procedures.
But the treatment in June 2020 was her last one until she could find full-time employment with insurance. Also, each time she went for a treatment, she had to arrange for her brother to come from Egypt to care for her in Boston, which became increasingly difficult.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays and the doctors on her team also left the Boston hospital.
The first treatment made the biggest difference in reducing some of the swelling of her face and lips and reducing the discoloration of her lips. Lamise has been told treatments could reduce but not completely remove her facial difference.
She is against an extremely dangerous facial transplant because she says she knows she is beautiful.
Challenges included tough job market during COVID-19 pandemic
In late 2020, Lamise landed three job offers days before she was to leave the country and ultimately took a job with a Cleveland-based business solutions firm, where she excelled.
But after working 10 months, she was laid off for budget reasons in the fall of 2021.
First Lamise story from 2018: Brave face: UA grad student doesn't let medical condition stop her
Facing a tough job market during the pandemic, Lamise decided to go home to Egypt for a visit and regroup, while continuing to apply for full-time jobs in Akron and Boston to be closer to her medical team in case she could restart treatments.
The type of visa Lamise has comes with restrictions, including that she must be employed to stay in the country. When it became apparent she only had one more unemployment day left on her visa, Michelle Wilson, executive director of Global Ties, used some unexpected grant money to temporarily hire Lamise as a consultant. Global Ties is a local nonprofit organization that hosts international exchanges, brings in leaders from around the world for programs and has local programming for students.
Lamise had participated in some programs and volunteered for the organization early in her UA career. Wilson also became part of Team Lamise and Global Ties has been the organization collecting community monetary donations for Team Lamise as its fiduciary agent.
Lamise returned to Akron in early 2022 to work for Global Ties temporarily. The organization was able to set aside money for short-term employment, originally designed to employ Lamise through April 2022.
After another Beacon Journal story update on Lamise, readers sent in donations that helped fund Lamise’s position at Global Ties until August 2022.
Reader helps guide, mentor Lamise
Lamise’s most recent job, which she started in August 2022, was with BE Solutions, a health benefits consultation company based in Elyria. Lamise had been connected to company owner Dave Ewonce via Tim Gill, a reader who was inspired by Lamise’s story.
Gill in 2019 spearheaded a community fundraiser for Lamise, raising more than $17,000. The fundraiser included items personally donated and sent by well-known bands, including Kiss and Lady Antebellum.
He knew many of the musicians from his early years working security at Blossom and the former Richfield Coliseum. Gill joined Team Lamise and helped Lamise find a lawyer for her visa issues, connected her to Ewonce and became one of her local mentors and friends.
“She’s so outgoing. I told her the other day, ‘You made a huge change in my life because you have such a great attitude about everything,’ ” Gill said recently.
“I don’t think there’s any question you could ask her that’s really out of bounds. I asked a lot of questions about her religion. She said when people stare at her, she goes right up to them and says ‘Hey, if you have any questions for me...’ Honestly, there aren’t a lot of people that do that,” he said.
She even has fans in Kiss band members Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer and Mike Kroeger with Nickelback, who have read the stories Gill has sent and ask about Lamise, he said.
March 2022: Brave Face: Another fork in the road for University of Akron grad Lamise ElBetar
When Lamise accepted the job from Ewonce, they both knew it had a time limit. They were past the March 2022 deadline for an employer to apply for a new work visa to sponsor her.
Lamise said her time with BE Solutions and a sister company “was one of my most accomplished years professionally as I learned a lot in one year compared to my previous jobs. I was working as a project owner for these strategic projects and Dave trusted my judgement in handling them independently.”
She completed her job this month, when she ran out of time on her work visa.
What's next for Lamise ElBetar?
Lamise’s visa requires that she spend a total of two years outside of the U.S. She has completed about a year already with her various trips home to Egypt.
She will be returning to Egypt and hopes to find a job in Egypt or remotely for a U.S.-based company to use her skills and give her freedom to travel to continue her medical journey.
The earliest Lamise could return to the U.S. would be next fall. But she would need to have a job from a U.S.-based company that would agree to sponsor her and get a work visa approved or she could apply for a pH.D program and return on a student visa. Another option is to come back on a tourist visa, which would only allow her to stay for six months, if she came just for medical treatment.
Lamise said she will consider all options, but her preference would be to come back to the United States for a job on a work visa. She would like to eventually apply for a Green card and U.S. citizenship. That would also get her medical insurance for future treatments.
“I need to find a plan on how to come back if I want to stay (in the U.S.) on a more permanent basis," she said.
Will Lamise ElBetar return to Akron or Boston?
It makes the most sense to Lamise to return to either Akron or Boston when she returns to the U.S., she said.
“I love Akron,” she said. “If I want to focus on my treatment, it is in Boston.
“Akron is like my second home. All of the people I love are here,” Lamise said. “I feel that definitely if I’m coming back to the U.S., I would come back to Akron. But for treatment, it’s going to be in Boston.”
Lamise said she will stay open to job opportunities.
Wilson of Global Ties said Lamise continues “to be inspiring and a very strong young lady who has a lot of talents and a lot of skills that she has used while she's been here to benefit organizations and companies.
“Of course, we hope for what she wants and that is she'd like to come back and reside here and have an opportunity for future treatments and calling this her second home, being able to continue to do so,” said Wilson.
There are challenges, Wilson said, with having to restart with a new medical team in Boston and she needs to find a U.S.-based company to agree to pay extra money to sponsor her on a work visa. Additionally, a company has to prove that Lamise brings special skills that another candidate does not, including a candidate who is a U.S. citizen.
There are also challenges in Egypt, Wilson said.
“It’s sometimes even more challenging in her own country to try to get a job and — both as a young woman and as someone who has a facial difference — to try to get secure jobs,” she said.
A love letter to Akron
Lamise said she will miss the people of Akron, who have embraced her, and the opportunities she’s had, including volunteering. She most recently volunteered on the campaign for Shammas Malik, the presumptive next mayor of Akron.
“I couldn’t even vote, but I really believe in him,” she said.
As she reflects on her time in Akron, Lamise has a message for the community:
“My journey of eight years in the U.S. literally changed my life; I first came to the U.S. in August 2015 and I will leave in August 2023. I don't know where I would be now if I didn't get a scholarship that opened my eyes to a whole new world and made my aspirations come true,” she said.
“But the most integral part of my journey was the last few years after I shared my story and started to see my condition as an opportunity to help myself and others and value what I have and the love that Akron people surrounded me with. Thank you from the bottom of my heart; Akron will always have a special place in my heart as my second home!”
Lamise wants to continue her treatment and has set aside about $60,000 that remains from the GoFundMe in a U.S. Bank account. She will use them for treatments, if she returns, and if not, she will donate the funds "to help other cases who have similar condition or facial difference that's affecting their life.”
In a video goodbye message to Akron, Lamise said: “Thank you, family. I consider Akron people now my family. You gave me love and you made me feel special and you made me feel loved and made me feel appreciated.
“Thank you so much. Love you so much.”
Beacon Journal medical reporter Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.tinyurl.com/bettylinfisher
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: University of Akron grad Lamise ElBetar leaves U.S., aims to return
