Emily Katy discovers she is autistic at 16 years old and later becomes a nurse

 

Amazon.com states, "To the outside world, Emily looks like a typical girl, with a normal family, living an ordinary life. But inside, Emily does not feel typical, and the older she gets, the more she realises that she is different. As she finally discovers when she is 16, Emily is autistic. Girl Unmasked is the extraordinary story of how she got there - and how she very nearly didn't.

Still only 21, Emily writes with startling candour about the years leading up to her diagnosis. How books and imagination became her refuge as she sought to escape the increasing anxiety and unbearable stresses of school life; how her OCD almost destroyed her; how a system which did not understand autism let her down; and how she came so close to the edge that she and her family thought she would never survive.

In this simple but powerful memoir, we see how family and friends became her lifeline and how, post-diagnosis, Emily came to understand her authentic self and begin to turn her life around, eventually becoming a mental health nurse with a desire to help others where she herself had once been failed."

Read more at: https://amzn.to/3VBgtgA

Cheers!

Donna

Lessons from a school nurse with diabetes and limb loss

 

Lakeisha Jacobs, RN shared her story in an article for "Living with Amplitude".

"I was always an overweight child, weighing 280 pounds when I was only 11. I had respiratory problems and was not as active as I should have been. And my brother and I grew up poor in a single mother’s household, so we ate only what we could afford. That included too many carbohydrates and sugary drinks."  

"Before I reached my 12th birthday, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I can remember the doctors actually scratching their heads. Back then, it was uncommon for anyone under 40 years old to receive this diagnosis. And I was just a child! Maybe this is why they did not aggressively push me to improve my diet and get more exercise. I was such a rare case, they didn’t know what to do with me."  

"My own school nurses didn’t know what to do with me, either. Instead of teaching me about nutrition and fitness, most attempted to put me on harsh, restrictive diets. They seemed to want to punish me for my weight, rather than teach me a healthier lifestyle. I was constantly told I was too fat. These cruel words came from the mouths not only of nurses but also teachers, doctors, and especially my peers. Instead of steering me toward better choices, their criticism just made me feel lonely, which pushed me toward the wrong foods for comfort."  

Read more of Lakeisha Jacobs' story at:

https://livingwithamplitude.com/article/diabetes-education-limb-loss-lakeisha-jacobs/

Cheers!

Donna

An invitation to a deeper dive into disability related issues for nurses

 

Hi all!

I wanted to let Exceptional Nurse followers know that I am now writing on Substack along with blogging here (that is not changing).

If you are interested in a "deeper dive" into disability related issues of today, please consider subscribing. It is free and I would love your support.

https://substack.com/@exceptionalnurse/note/p-151946089?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=xs4hq

With thanks, 

Donna

A message from Justin Dart father of the ADA........ Vote!

 

Let's get this done!

Donna

Having Cystic Fibrosis motivated Annaka Haynes to become a nurse

 

Annaka Haynes shared her journey in a "CF Community Blog" post.

"Managing nursing school and my health has been one of the hardest challenges I have ever taken on. Nursing school is difficult on its own, but adding a chronic lung disease on top of it doesn’t make it any easier. I had amazing results after I first started Trikafta, and my lungs continued to respond well to the medication. Sometimes I would forget that I had CF, and it was nice to forget. During my first year of college, I tried to do everything my roommates were doing — and often ended up sick. Living in the dorms probably didn’t help. But at the time, my lungs were still keeping up for the most part."

"My second year began (first semester of nursing school), and school became way more stressful. I spent many late nights studying and doing homework, tried to have fun as any college kid does, struggled to find time for my health, and found myself sick again. But this time, I was sick for a few months instead of a few weeks. Instead of enjoying my holiday break, I spent it in the hospital, and then at home doing IV antibiotics. It was so frustrating, but I knew that I could have prevented this." 

Read more at: https://www.cff.org/community-posts/2024-03/becoming-nurse-advocate-patients

Cheers!

Donna

Nurse amputee attempts wheelchair world record

 

Lili Sheppard reported this story for BBC News, Somerset.

"An ex-nurse is attempting to set a new world record by travelling from John O’Groats to Land's End in 45 days using a standard wheelchair."

"Army veteran Lexi Chambers has fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) - with the latter resulting in her leg being amputated three years ago."

"She has four world records to her name and hopes to add another in her upcoming fundraiser called End 2 End The Rugby Relay."

"My goal is to inspire by demonstrating that despite adversity, achieving dreams is possible," said Ms Chambers.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0rwzd0r1do

Cheers!

Donna

Dalton Cummins, cancer survivor, becomes a nurse at hospital where he was a patient

People magazine reported this story written by Hilary Shenfeld. It was published on October 5, 2024.

"Nurse Dalton Cummins can truly relate to his oncology patients at Riley Hospital for Children. After all, he was once a patient there himself, battling two different forms of cancer and coming close to death more than once."

"Cummins, now 24, was first diagnosed with lymphoma at age 19 after what he initially thought was a case of COVID-19. He underwent successful treatment at the Indianapolis children's hospital, only to be struck again a few months later with a different form of the disease."

"Now recovered, Cummins is back in the cancer unit but instead of lying in a bed hooked up to tubes and monitors, he is the one tending to young children, some of whom might be reluctant to take their medicines, just as he once was."

Read the original article on People.

Cheers!

Donna