Because I was so young when I first became ill, (age 8), I had to go through childhood and my teen years with lots and lots of problems. I was too weak to play for long periods of time and to even take gym class. It was a combination of being sick or always recovering from some kind of surgery. I was constantly made fun of and teased. When I became a teen, I always had to think of an excuse as to why I was not participating. I did manage to get through it, but it was tough. Young people go through enough with day to day activities of just being a teen. This added more stress to these years for me. I was different inside and out from all of my friends and struggled to be “the same as everyone else.” It’s funny how I can look back now, older and mature and see that we all are different in so many ways, and it really does not matter. At the time I was going through it, “different” was all I could think about. I think I managed to survive this by being strong, positive and very stubborn. These were and still are my three most important assets.
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