Sentence:  As long as her development within her shell lived up to expectations , and there were no side-effects from the pituitary tinkering , Helva would live a rewarding , rich and unusual life , a far cry from what she would have <WSD>faced</WSD> as an ordinary , `` normal '' being . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  deal with (something unpleasant) head on