The journey may not always be easy, but it’s your life and deserves to be lived with all the joys and passions that fuel your heart! That’s a big message from our latest Spotlight Story Program feature writer, not only in her life journey with chronic illnesses, but also in the advocacy and digital fingerprint she’s leaving on the world. Say hello to InvisiYouth’s first New Zealander Global Brand Leader, art and design student, Kate Henry! Living with illnesses like IgA immunodeficiency, Hashimoto’s disease, POTS, and more, Kate has had many challenges for her health thrown her way since she was born. But as she’s gotten older and began finding what brings her joy, Kate began working towards being an active participant in her life, and finding happiness through adapting and excelling. With seven life mindset-boosting tips, Kate’s words will give you a deep realness on living your best life in the ways your health can allow.
*Kia Ora!
My name is Kate and I am a 19-year-old art and design student all the way from little old New Zealand, Aotearoa.
My journey with my health begins all the way back in 2002, yup that’s right… the year I was born. Although considered a perfectly healthy baby, I was apparently always unsettled. I seemed like I was in pain a lot of the time and had trouble keeping my food down, which were all just little glimpses of what my future was going to be like.
From the age of five, my health became even more disruptive to my quality of life as I began to experience chronic pain, nausea, frequent infections and viruses—many things no five-year-old should have to deal with. Over the next few years of my life I was tested on, trialed on medications and spent a lot of time with my mum sitting right beside my bed, holding my hand until I fell asleep.
At the age of seven, I was diagnosed with IgA immunodeficiency and a severe gluten intolerance. After being treated for these and removing all gluten from my diet, I found some relief, a kind of relief that every kid deserves.
But then high school happened, my body changed and unfortunately my health did too.
I was getting increasingly ill, passing out during classes, unable to eat any food without being sick, and in severe pain almost every minute of every day… all while trying to balance being a teenager. Over the next six years, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, hypothyroidism, Fibromyalgia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and a slightly curved spine resulting in chronic back, pelvic and leg pain. Safe to say, my life got flipped upside down and everything became increasingly hard. School was hard, socialising was hard, getting out of bed was hard, being me in this body was hard. But chronic illness is hard, and my experience with it is no exception to that.
But when everything feels hard, everything also feels heavy. And with my body taking so much away from me already, lately I have been actively choosing to make my experience that tiny bit easier, choosing a much happier life no matter the circumstance. Unfortunately, that’s a lot easier said than done, when the odds are against you, but so worth it in the end. Small changes for me have made a world of difference.
Accepting that this is where I am at, that this is how much my body can do before it breaks, that this is my life and I’ve just got to work with the body I’ve been given are all thought processes that have allowed me to accept my situation. By no means does this mean that I’m smiling my way through the whole flare up, but instead of feeling guilty for not being able to do as much as others or resenting my body for the pain it puts me in, I am simply kinder to myself, which allows me to feel a bit more like me again.
Over the 19 years I’ve got to experience in this beautiful body of mine, I am so proud of how far I have come and eternally grateful for much I have managed to achieve. But the most exciting part is that this is just the start, and that there is so much more I have to look forward to, no matter the circumstance of my health. And you do too.
I completely understand that positivity is not a cure and that sometimes we want to grief our past life, our healthy life. And I think that is also an incredibly important part of the healing process, but if we can just be slightly kinder to ourselves and our situation, we might have more time to enjoy the better parts of this life we are getting to live.
So although I’m no expert and to be completely honest, I’m still figuring this whole chronic illness thing out. I’ve decided to write down some of the small tips that have helped me on this journey so far… I hope they can help you too!
- Look after that beautiful brain of yours. Many people with chronic illnesses also suffer from mental health conditions too. For many our physical symptoms will be with us for a while, if not forever. But by looking after our mental health we don’t have to lose who we are to our illness. We can just adapt instead.
- Recognise your strength—Yes you! Life with chronic illness can be so incredibly tough so you are so strong for doing life in a body that makes everything that bit harder.
- Reach out—there are so many amazing communities out there either online or in person that can support you. Plus making spoonie friends is always the best!
- Adapt—for so long I was so stuck in my ways, continuing to live my life like a healthy person, like everyone else around me. But that was extremely tiring and if anything made me even sicker. So changing the way you live to work with your body not against it can be super beneficial!
- Always be you. When living with chronic illness, we can come consumed by the idea of being sick that we forget who we are. Doing small activities that remind yourself of who you are before your illness and who you will be throughout can be helpful xx
- Find people who make you feel good <3. The better the support system, the better the experience.
- Allow yourself to feel—don’t be getting all guilty for being upset for where you are at or for your health, chronic illness sucks, it always will and it’s totally okay to be upset about that. But afterwards, find someone to give you a nice big hug, and remind yourself just how well you are doing.
I am so proud of you 🙂
Hugs and spoons,
Kate xx
* “kia ora” is a way to say hello and express gratitude in New Zealand. It derives from the indigenous Māori language, te reo.