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I am scared of dying. This is a truth I have avoided saying out loud or acknowledging for the last 13 years. When I was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), I Googled the disorder, and the internet only gave me five years to live. My loved ones found…

Advocacy is the action of advocating, pleading for, or supporting a cause or proposal. I’m a firm believer that we’ve all been an advocate or benefited from advocacy at least once in our lives. Personally, I’ve been able to experience the blessing of both having an advocate and working to…

My family has recently become obsessed with the “Overcooked!” video game. With up to four players, we work against the clock chopping vegetables, frying fish or meat, and assembling plates, all while going up against obstacles like the frozen tundra or mice that steal your supplies. It’s incredibly…

It feels like there’s a test for everything. As I hit milestones with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a rare autoimmune disease that can affect the spinal cord and optic nerves, I am subjected to more tests. The latest was a bone density test, also called a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)…

In the weeks after my youngest daughter, Bella, was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) in 2017, work and finances weighed heavily on my mind. I’d started a new job a month before Bella got sick, so I didn’t have any paid time off and didn’t qualify for the Family…

Over the weekend, I took my daughter to her first in-person birthday party in almost three years. Fate can be cruel sometimes, which is how I found myself at an indoor jungle gym. I forgot how loud children’s screams and high-pitched voices can be, especially when amplified by the warehouse-turned-gym…

If you’ve been around the medical community long enough, you’ve likely heard the term “gut health.” But what exactly does that mean, and how does one create an optimal internal balance? Good gut health, generally speaking, is having the right balance of good bacteria and other microbes in the…

If there were a spot on my social media profiles that asked me to describe my position on religion, I’d write, “It’s complicated.” That’s because I’ve had a few too many falling-outs with my God. ‘Why me?’ I was in my early 20s when I suffered my first major…

Five years ago, Aug. 28, 2017, began like any other day. I had taken the day off work to run errands, and I got up early to help my youngest daughter, Bella, get ready for school. She had just started fourth grade at a new school and had a long…

You’ve probably heard that we need to drink six to eight glasses of water a day. How many of you successfully hit that target? Don’t beat yourself up if you struggle to meet that quota, or, ahem, meet it with coffee instead. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I…