real stories.  

For most of my life, I thought headaches were just a normal inconvenience. Throughout middle school and early high school, I would often come home after long days of staring at screens with bad head pain. It was annoying, but manageable. I never imagined that a few years later, migraines would completely take over my life. Everything shifted in the summer of 2024. I was doing a stressful CIT overnight camp program, and looking back, I truly believe that that stress triggered

My name is Amanda and I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, sjogrens, and fibromyalgia.  Life knocked me down early. My chronic illness symptoms started at just 17 years old in the middle of my senior year of high school. I went from playing soccer and cheerleading, to being curled into a ball crying in pain.  My symptoms were very vague and only happened occasionally at first, until it became a daily struggle of joint pain, severe fatigue, muscle and bone pain, and a burning s

When I was twelve years old, I began experiencing severe stomach pain and started throwing up everything I ate or drank. I couldn’t sleep, and the pain was constant. One day it became so unbearable that I finally convinced my parents to take me to the emergency room. The doctors believed it was my appendix and scheduled me for an appendectomy the next day. I hoped the surgery would finally make me feel better. The surgery itself went well. My appendix was removed, but it was

On August 8, 2023, I had jaw surgery and that was the day everything changed. My surgeon did everything right, but my body didn’t. Within days, my jaw shifted so far over, no one knew why. Braces kept falling off. Arch bars failed. I chipped all my teeth. A shift that should take five years happened to me in months. That was just the start of a nightmare I never woke up from. Since then, I’ve had 23 surgeries, developed 10 chronic illnesses with no cure, and been told ove

Living with chronic illness often means carrying truths that go unseen in everyday healthcare. Behind every appointment and every chart...

Even when I was little, I struggled with feeling different. I was born two months early and diagnosed with chronic sinusitis, which...

No one really explains how much illness changes your life. One day you’re doing everything you used to, and then slowly, things start...

When you or someone you love is facing a health condition, the scariest part is often the not-knowing. Not knowing what the diagnosis...

My first symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) were unsteady walking and a slight slurring of speech. I was an athletic 14 year old, so it...

On February 14th, 2025 at 15 years old I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. For over two years I had been struggling with severe...

In 2021, I was diagnosed with epilepsy as well as traumatic brain injury (TBI) affecting the frontal, right, and left regions of my...

My name is Mariana and I started my medical journey when I was 5. At that age, I started having extremely high fevers that could not be...

My story with chronic illness began when I was born, during childbirth I experienced a brain bleed as a result of being born 11 weeks...

These are the words we carry with us - sentences that cracked us open, gave us language for the pain, or reminded us we’re not alone. All...

I have lived in stillness. Not the kind found on a quiet morning, peaceful and comforting, but the kind that settles like fog—unwanted,...

April 4th, 2018 after almost two years of doctors appointments and unanswered questions, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 18 from...

My name is Aminah I’m 27 years old. I was full of life, always seeking adventure and new experiences. However, life took a sharp turn on...

I was always extremely active, often only going home to sleep. That was until one day everything changed. I just kept getting hit with...

My name is Hannah, and I’m 17 years old. I was born with a rare heart condition—my body didn’t have the natural pathway to send blood to...

When I was 17, I noticed a small bump on my wrist. It didn’t hurt much at first, just a dull ache that came and went. I brushed it off,...