SJIA

In January 2012, Kristen’s youngest of three children, Rylan, suddenly became very sick. Their trying path to a diagnosis for the then-one-year-old was just the beginning of a new and continuously challenging experience — which Rylan and his family have persevered as a…
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Multiple myeloma survivor Sandy, says that “fighting this alone without support is a hard, rough road.” This is true not only for survivors but for family and caregivers as well. If someone you love is dealing with cancer you may feel overwhelmed, helpless,…
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This is the second of two articles about being a care partner to someone with terminal cancer. Click here to read Part 1. If you would like to share your health experiences, please sign up here. Tiffini Joseph lost her loving mother to lung cancer in…
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This is the first of two planned articles detailing the experiences of a lung cancer care partner. If you would like to share your health experiences, please sign up here. Tiffini Joseph works long hours at night as a hospital nurse, while also raising…
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Caring for someone with any chronic health condition is an experience that is hard to relate to unless you’re going through it. Resources and support for caregivers are often hard to come by, friends and family don’t often understand, and treatment can be…
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Darcel White is blogger, autism and dyslexia advocate, and single mother to three children with food allergies, seasonal allergies, and asthma. She shared with us how she found out about her children’s condition and the actions she takes every day to make sure…
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Steering through CLL Together: A Couple Chooses Providers, Procedures and Clinical Trials

When Jay Sperling went to have pre-operative bloodwork done for a minor knee surgery, he hadn’t anticipated the results. His white blood cell count was abnormally high. He didn’t have any infections (which can often cause the white cell count to go up),…
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Ten years ago, when Carolyn first met her husband, John, she knew he “had something.” He’d exhibited dyskinesia, or involuntary muscle movements, as they’d chatted. On their next date, when he explained that he suffered from early onset Parkinson’s disease, her response was…
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Pontocellebellar Hypoplasia Type 1B: A Rare Genetic Disorder Can’t Stop This Family

Margaret Miller knew early on that something was off about her redheaded baby girl, Gwen. As a one-month-old, she still wasn’t making eye contact. Underweight at birth but seemingly healthy at first, Gwen continued to miss milestones as she got older. She had…
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This comic by Tatiana Gill was inspired by comments from our community. Have you been affected by a chronic health condition? Sign up to share your experiences with Health Stories Project!

If someone you love is dealing with depression, you might feel helpless, confused, overwhelmed, hopeless, frustrated, or even angry. You simply might not know what to do. This is fairly normal, people don’t know how to help people with these issues. One of…
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“Your son has achondroplasia.” When Heather Wahl Saylor went into labor in 1993, she had no idea that she was giving birth to a child with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism. In fact, it wasn’t until the hospital staff handed her the…
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We’re Sorry, Your Son Has Leukemia

Not Just Another Cold The first decade of the 21st century was pretty rotten for Chris and her family. They experienced multiple losses of loved ones – some young, some old, none easy. They were also a two-career family with three children under…
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Pregnancy is supposed to be a joyous time of anticipation. Baby showers, nurseries, and nesting all add to the fun and excitement. Even when morning sickness gets extreme, and doctors’ visits get old, it’s hard to imagine anything truly ruining that special time…
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In just 224 days, Deb Fuller went from being a normal mom of two, to a mom who had lost one of her children to pediatric brain cancer. It’s normal for us to think the really bad things in life won’t happen to…
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An Impossible Question What would it take for you to transform one of your most excruciating losses into something that will benefit generations to come? For many of us that question may be too abstract to focus in on. But for Kristine Wetzel…
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Halloween is one of the most exciting nights of the year. It’s also an incredibly stimulating one, full of social interaction, costumes, pieces of candy that you are very likely to find in this wholesale school snacks category, and decorations. Autistic kids can…
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autism in the classroom

The start of a new school year presents unique challenges for the parents of children with mild-to-moderate Autism. They may face pressure to choose between a sheltered special education program, or an integrative classroom experience called “mainstreaming.” Mainstreaming allows students living with Autism…
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It’s that time of year again: summer is winding down and school is starting back up. Regardless of how your little one feels about going back to school, it can be nerve-racking for parents of kids with asthma. Not being there to help…
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