On July 2nd, my parents, paternal grandparents, maternal grandmother, cousins, and a few friends from my homeschooling groups, and college were all gathered to wish me a happy birthday and celebrate my high school graduation.

This was a day that back in the sixth and seventh grade no one was sure would ever happen.  Yet here we were, with me already having completed a year of college, and maintaining a GPA of 4.0.

To your average Jane Doe, completing a year of college and turning nineteen might not seem that monumental (well I’ll toot my own horn, maintaining a 4.0 GPA is pretty impressive), but when you have a degenerative chronic illness nothing can be taken for granted. I was diagnosed with gastroparesis at the age of ten and my health has just steadily gone downhill from there to the point where more of my childhood was spent in the … Find Out What Happens Next