Pieces of M.E.

Life loves to throw curve balls at those with big dreams. Unfortunately, I am one of those people. I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in Indiana after years of trying to find a diagnosis that fit what I was going through. I have been mostly bed bound since 2021 and I feel like I have the flu everyday in my life. I am from Florida where the cost of living gets higher every day and the medical care and social services get worse. I set out to have a better life and hit yet another curve ball on the way to my destination, leaving me in Indiana indefinitely.

After over a decade of advocating for others through my career in nonprofit management, I had to learn how to find resources and take care of myself. My family and I were houseless and having intense food insecurity when we first got to Indiana. Luckily, the Indianapolis community came together for my family and myself and has made our lives exponentially better. At one point, I thought my family and I would have to live in a tent in the woods in the Florida heat and here we are still surviving with a roof over our heads, just in a whole new state with a whole new community.

I knew nothing of Indiana when I got here except for that John Green, one of my favorite authors, had settled down here after growing up in Central Florida just like me. When I was told I could not travel any further by doctors, I kind of felt like this could be some kind of good omen. Another Central Florida native made it here in Indiana. Why couldn't I?

All royalties from this memoir will be donated to M.E. research.