“You know that feeling, in the pit of your stomach, when something terrible is out of your control. You immediately imagine the worst-case scenario. Your eyes widen, your breathing gets jacked, your heart rate spikes, you hover on the edge of fear… “

“To protect my children, I’ve always lied about my work to their teachers and friend’s parents. I don’t want my children to be discriminated against because of other people’s stereotypical beliefs … Now they are getting older. They are strong and defiant. I am less in fear about how my decisions might impact their lives.”

“When I first became ill in 2008, no one believed me. My family doctor told me that all of my tests had come back normal. He said the only possible cause of my neurological disability and gastrointestinal symptoms was a trauma from childhood. He said what I had was a psychosomatic disorder.”