interviews with invisible disabilities inspiring people with chronic illness
Alexa Chronister is not your stereotypical college student. She doesn’t spend the weekend tailgating before football games or playing beer pong at fraternity parties. Alexa suffers from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS); two chronic, painful and often debilitating conditions. As a college freshman, Alexa felt isolated as she struggled to manage the symptoms of her chronic illnesses
Lara Bloom is the international Executive Director of the Ehlers-Danlos Society where she is responsible for raising awareness of rare and invisible diseases, including Ehlers-Danlos.
She works to raise funds for research and speaks at conferences all over the world, lecturing medical students and professionals, and supporting specialists in the EDS field by offering her experience as a leading patient expert.
Ardra Shephard is a devastating illness expert, having lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 15 years. Her blog Tripping On Air is the irreverent, insider-scoop about MS that manages to inspire without ever being saccharine. It’s frank, it’s funny, it’s what you’d want your best friend to tell you about what it’s like to live with chronic illness. Ardra was named one of the Top 50 MS bloggers “in the universe” by feedspot.com, one of the Top 25 MS bloggers by healthlabs.com, and was featured on Sickboy Podcast (October 2017).
Tara has been in athletics her whole life. She is a certified trainer, spinning, and TRX instructor, and she was named one of Los Angeles’ best instructors by Class Pass.
Movement is important to Tara because she lives with Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT). This disease has caused progressive atrophy in her lower legs, limiting her balance and strength.
Meet Amberly Lago! Amberly is a motivational speaker, and author of True Grit And Grace: Turning Tragedy Into Triumph. She started her speaking career after her life was deeply altered and her world was completely changed in May 2010. While riding her motorcycle in Woodland Hills, CA, she was hit by an SUV and thrown…
Two years ago, I went through a breakup; the kind of breakup that makes your insides coil and introduces you to all kinds of anxiety in the form of panic attacks and sleepless nights.
A Note from Lainie: If you are looking for best shoes for footdrop, there are several brands mentioned by Rebecca below. I have updated the styles that she originally mentioned with styles and links. For other shoes that work people with more severe footdrop who require an afo and/or orthotics, there are many posts about…
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