Bullied over her ears, girl gets free surgery from doctor who was also bullied: "Can’t say thank you enough"



UTAH -- A young girl, bullied over her ears got free surgery from a generous doctor who himself was a victim of bullying.

Isabelle Stark says kids would tease her over her ears. She says they stuck out too far, and as she got older, her hair and hats weren’t enough to cover them.

“Kids called me ‘Dumbo,’ or said that I looked like a mouse,” 18-year-old Stark told PEOPLE. They’d even walk up to me and pull on my ears. I tried to brush it off, but almost every day, I went home and cried. For my entire life, my only wish was to have normal-sized ears.”

Dr. Steven Mobley stepped in to help. He, too, was once bullied.

“When the movie Top Gun came out and every guy wanted that Tom Cruise military haircut, I was crushed,” he tells PEOPLE. “I was shy and in hiding for most of my school years.”

Stark said she was told her ears were ‘cute’ when she was younger, but the self-esteem issues became more prevalent when she entered middle school.

Her mother, a single mother, said she just couldn’t afford the surgery for her daughter.

After some research, the family found Dr. Mobley. They went to the surgery center and Stark had the two-hour procedure done. She had to recover for just one week before she could see her ears.

“I was so thrilled that I cried. It was the biggest day of my life. I can’t say thank you enough. My ears are so natural now and have a perfect curve. I no longer feel that I have to hide them," Stark said.

Mobley was happy that Stark can now move forward with her life without worrying about her ears.