Real Stories.  

Hey there! I’m Sam, and I have had MS for over 19 years, which also happens to be half my life. When I was diagnosed with MS my sophomore year at OSU, I thought my life was over especially in my case because MS came on in a very I AM HEREEEE in ALL CAPS type of way. I went from being a college student concerned about school and hanging out with friends, to struggling to walk, write or see properly. Not having control over basic functions of my body was an absolute mind f*ck

Education is often described as the great equalizer. The bridge between potential and opportunity, school being a place where every student is given the chance to succeed. But for many students living with chronic illnesses, fluctuating conditions, or invisible diseases, school becomes a place where their realities are questioned and safety is compromised. These experiences are often absent from broader conversations surrounding education. Discussions about academic achieveme

Hi, my name is Bryanna Ramsey, and this is my story. At the age of 5, I started having horrible headaches, body pain, balance issues, and many other symptoms. My mom started taking me to doctors constantly, and we were always told, “She’s just trying to skip school. She’s fine.” At 11, I started 6th grade and began playing the clarinet. Every time I would play my instrument, I would end up throwing up. I went to the doctor for it and was told I had asthma and to just use an

Hi! My name is Sierra Erdman-Luntz. I am now 24 years old, working my dream job, and live independently all while coping with hEDS and co. Specifically, I’m diagnosed with hEDS, POTS, MALS, occipital neuralgia, thoracic outlet syndrome, migraines, anemia and have suspected MCAS and endometriosis. I’ve been central line dependent for the last almost 3 years for my hydration due to a combination of my gi issues, inability to tolerate water, and severe POTS. I now have a wonderf

Hi, my name is Addie Carroll and this is my story. At the young age of 10, I was living a normal life as any 4th grader would. I was always out going, not shy and was always able to be myself. I enjoyed making new friends at my new elementary school I had recently transferred to. Around the first quarter of my 4th grade year, I had a normal strep infection. Everyone gets them so I started to carry on with my life until I woke up a completely different person one morning. A f

Students with chronic illness often move through school in ways that aren’t immediately visible. Managing health often happens alongside assignments and expectations that rarely adjust to those realities. Many students learn to balance doctor appointments with homework and navigate environments that don’t always understand what they’re experiencing. The voices below share pieces of that reality. These reflections come directly from students living with chronic illness, offeri

Some mornings, I wake up and stare at the ceiling for what feels like hours. My body feels heavy, like I’m made of wet sand. Even breathing feels like a task. I lie there, caught in the same war that’s been waging inside of me for years. I can’t let this illness ruin my life. But I have to listen to my body and rest. It’s a cruel world of tug-of-war. On one side, there’s this version of me that still dreams. The one who wants to work, see friends, laugh, and have a normal lif

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...