Meet Maddie. Maddie is almost 15 and in high school. She was diagnosed with Behcets Disease (main illness), POTS , Rhuematoid Arthritis, GERD, Fibromayalga, Colitis, Chronic Migraines & Fatigue, and Nonepileptic Seizures! She also gets Remicade Infusions every 4 weeks and has to take 15+ pills a day just to be able to function like others. Behcets is a very rare autoimmune disease. Only 1 out of 100,000 people have Behcets. It has many symptoms that come with it, because Behcets goes anywhere and everywhere the blood flows.
Chronic illnesses often have stereotypes. People think that they have to see something wrong with you to be able to believe you. With her illness, most of her suffering isn’t visible. She can put on makeup, style her hair and wear nice clothes and hide what she deals with on a daily basis.
But her reality doesn’t stop her. She enjoys hanging out with family and friends and going on adventures and traveling. She just recently learned how to live life to the fullest even with a chronic illness. “The pain may never go away,” she says, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t be positive!”