My name is James Beal. I was born in north Carolina in 1980. I lived a normal childhood with little fear.
At night when I would go to bed I would always have the same strange dream. I would dream I was sitting on the stairs looking out the window. The Easter bunny would run by the window like someone was chasing him. Then the devil would run by. A few minutes later the devil would peek in the window, hold up the rabbit ear and point at me. At that moment I would wake up with severe chest pain unable to speak. The doctors always said it was a heart murmur.
At 15 I was falling asleep in class, having severe chest pains, and unable to focus on anything. I went to the Dr., but was told it was growing pains. While running track one day, I had a heart attack and hit the ground. Read more »
I’m the (now) single mother of four amazing babies; JD, Heaven, Starla, and Jasper. I had very difficult pregnancies and three of my babies ended up being born early.
Despite my hard pregnancy, my second baby, Heaven held on the longest and was born right on time. The only one, seemingly, born without complications. At the time I found it odd that she was born with such long fingers. When most mothers counted to make sure their baby had 10 fingers and toes, I counted to see if my baby had an extra knuckle! I was reassured by doctors that she just had “piano playing” hands and would be just fine.
Read more »
One Teenager’s Response to Living With A Chronic Illness
My teenage daughter was asked to write a narration with a moral for her comp class this year. She is a senior. She chose to write not only about her fight to help others understand what EDS is and how it affects her everyday life but how she is not going to let her illness ruin it.
(She is definitely her momma’s girl.)
This is her paper in it’s entirety with links added to empower others with useful knowledge.
Do Not Be Ignorant
Once upon a time, in a not so far away land, lived a dark haired maiden. She was your average, all around, American girl, but behind all of that was a different person that no one ever saw besides her family. Until one day, she could not hide anymore. She had to show herself to the world, not knowing how people would react to seeing her in the not so beautiful reality. This is my story asking people not to judge me until they come to know me and my life. Read more »
Tags: Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Homecomming and EDS, Hypermobility, Invisible Illness, My struggle with EDS, Teen, Teenager, Teens with EDS
Helping Your Unusual Child, Inspiration, My Family's Personal Stories, Real Life Stories | TinaMiller | 
October 13, 2014 10:17 pm | 
Comments (10)
Subscribe
