"What had taken two years to be believed took less than twenty minutes to diagnose" - Making the transition from patient to advocate.

When I was younger I was a gymnast and an athlete. Now as a teenager I struggle with even going up and down stairs. During my early teens I started to present symptoms that my doctor said was anxiety. He did blood work but always said that it came back normal even though that wasn’t true. I was extremely anemic and by the time we found out, I was one deep injury away from bleeding out. After that we started pushing for our concerns to be more listened to. It took two years before I was referred to a cardiologist. Within 10 minutes we found out that I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (P.O.T.S). What had taken two years to be believed took less than twenty minutes to diagnosis. I was later diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Last year, I competed in Miss Amazing which kick started my social media platform. It became my coping mechanism. Now I partner with organizations to advocate for invisible disability awareness so that no one has to suffer like I did.

Check out more about my platform at @lifewithdifficulty on Instagram and TikTok