I am an 18-year-old living in Illinois. My name is Alexus Bergen, and here is my story. I have only been living with Multiple Sclerosis for two months now, but every day seems to make it that much harder to do normal teenage things, like go for a morning run, …

I had been out of work for a year, and I decided to go back because I had begun to gain a lot of weight. So as I began to work, within the first 3 weeks, my body began to do all kinds of things. I began to swell, and …

My story starts out like most others’, I would imagine. I got my first period when I was 10 years old, and at first I thought, “Yay! I’m like a woman now!” Little did I know how much my life would be impacted by my periods. For years, I dreaded …

Hello, my name is Jomayra. I’m 31 years old. My story with lupus began at the age of 25, after giving birth to my first child. I started noticing changes in my body, starting with my hands and feet. They would swell up and turn purple. My hair started falling out. …

Hi, my name is Sharon. I am a mom. First, let me say I admire all of the girls that have shared their story! My daughter, Kristina, is 20 years old and has been vomiting multiple times per day since February 26th. This happens every time she eats, not to …

I remember my first period like it was yesterday. It was the day the new pope got elected in 2012, and as my parents were watching the news about it, I was freaking out that there was blood on the toilet paper I had flushed down the toilet. I had …

Hi! My name is Cat, and I am 23 years old, feeling like I am going on 45. I was diagnosed with the possibility of having endometriosis when I was 22. Every time my menstrual cycle came around, I would get the worst cramps on the first or second day and …

I was 12 when the pain started. I thought it was normal, so I tried to continue with my life. I remember I used to sit and watch my friends play in tears because I wasn’t able to get up from the bench. The pain wasn’t that bad at the …

All my life I have gotten questions about my health. ‘How long will you live?’ ‘Does having a heart condition hurt?’ And my favorite, ‘Can I catch what you have?!’ But as I start down this new journey of getting a heart and lung transplant – I am getting more …

“They’re just cramps. You’re fine. Go to school.” Every girl has heard this in her lifetime. For me, cycle time was always super heavy and painful, most times requiring a hot bath to release me from the fetal position I would wake up in or crunch into. I had vomiting and painful migraines …