I had struggled with anxiety in the past, so I thought it would pass, just as it had all the other times prior. I hid my symptoms from friends and family because of this.

My symptoms started to worsen to the point where I couldn’t hide them anymore. My speech began to slur, I couldn’t close or open containers properly without assistance, and my handwriting became illegible.

My parents rushed me from doctor to doctor, and they all chalked it up to anxiety and depression. For this, I was put on antidepressants and told to take a few days off of school. Little did I know, that “a few days” would lead to 2 years.

When I was finally properly diagnosed, on October 17th, 2022, via Zoom, my pediatric neurologist made it seem like it was a minor illness. This is why I am sharing my story because even experts in the field don’t have the slightest clue what this disease entails.

January 2023 was when I was at my lowest point: I couldn’t move at all (paralyzed essentially), couldn’t talk at all, couldn’t relieve my bladder without a catheter, choking on my saliva, and unable to even be transferred to the shower. On top of all this, believe it or not, students at my high school, people I considered close friends, were bullying me for having a disease that I had no control in getting.

Because I couldn’t talk at all, I remember vividly, needing to type out on my notes app for my mom to read “I would rather be dead than continue living like this.”

I persevered, through the pain, and the ridicule from students back at school. I took a gap year after graduating high school with a 4.65 GPA and highest honors (I received my diploma in a wheelchair). I am now an incoming freshman at UC Irvine in Biology, hoping to do something in advocacy and medical research to give back to the medical community and spread awareness about the disease that derailed my life for 2 years.

If you are currently going through treatment for Wilson disease, just know that it does get better.