I often find it hard to explain and describe feelings of my rare disease to people who are able-bodied. Rather than describing feelings through words, I make art. My artwork shows the feelings, both emotionally and physically, of how my condition affects me in day-to-day life. I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a domino disease that has led to many comorbidities. In my painting, I am portrayed with three heads, symbolizing the discomfort people show when I talk about my condition. The hummingbirds on my chest represent the fast fluttering feeling from POTS. The jellyfish represents my brain fog and the feeling of being in a fishbowl. The mushrooms represent the feeling that I am rotting from the inside out. The visible rib cage symbolizes a traumatic feeding tube experience that resulted in intense pain, extreme difficulty breathing, and liver adhesions. Art will continue to be an outlet for me, expressing feelings like mourning, frustration, anger, and sadness. I highly encourage others in the rare community to explore their creativity and pour their feelings and energy out on paper, canvas or whatever their favorite media may be. You never know what you might create, and that’s the beauty of it all. Birth Year: 2002