I started having debilitating fatigue and headaches when I was 13 years old. At the time, we thought it was just mental health related. It wasn’t until 4 years later, my freshman year of college, that I started suffering from adrenal failure-something I now know could’ve been fatal. It would take two more years after that to finally, finally discover what was wrong with me, as well as several thousand dollars in medical bills and dozens of doctors who were clueless.
In March 2019, I tested positive for three infections- Borrelia Burgdorferi, Bartonella, and Babesia. Borrelia Burgdorferi is the main infectious cell of Lyme Disease–and Bartonella and Babesia are two other tick-borne illnesses that often accompany Lyme. I was also found to have abnormal Epstein-Barr levels and an MTHFR gene mutation, A1298C.
No doctor in Texas ever thought to ask if I’d lived in the New England region, where ticks infected with Borrelia Burgdorferi live. I had. My mother even had an old picture of “a suspicious spider bite” that turned out to be THE tick bite, from June of 2004.
Staying in school has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I don’t blame anyone with a chronic illness who’s had to drop out of college. It’s embarrassing to constantly have to miss appointments, classes, and other events and be apologizing to people for it. It’s hard to always be playing catch-up. It’s especially hard to be motivated to work on homework or a project when your whole body hurts and you’re struggling to keep your eyes open, even though you just slept for twelve hours straight. I’ve had to have disability accommodations through the school, which I had to fight for and struggle with individual professors to implement and follow them. It took me two years to convince a doctor to sign a handicapped parking pass for me, even though the joint pain had me walking with a cane at 18 years old.
If you think you don’t know anyone disabled, you’re probably wrong. Health disorders and diseases are far more common than you think, especially Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, and Endometriosis. Autoimmune diseases are also prevalent among family members as they’re often genetic. It’s hard to be a college student while dealing with these kinds of problems, because you’re supposed to be in your “physical prime.” You’re supposed to be able to walk across campus, hike up stairs, carry heavy things up three flights of dorm stairs. I need help for all of those things, and I’m lucky to have family and friends that offer to help, because otherwise I’d be left in the dust. You have to be your own advocate for your accommodations, and speak up for yourself and the things you are offered by the school, many times because professors can’t “see” anything wrong with you. You have to fight against the weird stares, invasive questions, and sympathetic pats on the back by absolute strangers. You’ve got to be strong all the time, just to deal with the way your body is malfunctioning, before you can even think about doing the normal things other people take for granted.
I hope that the college system isn’t always this way, and that its accessible to everyone who wants an education in the future, including people who need a little extra help.