Chronic illness is an overarching term that refers to a plethora of life long conditions for which there is no known cure. Personally, I have experience with Crohn's disease. Others include: cancer, diabetes, Lyme's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, POTs, anxiety, depression, asthma and many more.
Chronic illnesses affect everyone differently. In addition to the variety of actual diagnosis; there is a wide range to how each conditions can affect an individual. For example, one person with anxiety may experience a few anxiety attacks a year while another person may experience them daily. Both still have anxiety but just experience different symptoms and extremes. It is important to recognize that two people can have the same diagnosis while having two completely different experiences.
Many of my peers in college have shared with me their own struggles with chronic conditions. Through the stories of friends living right along side me; I realized that many students face similar hardships while fighting different battles. It is my goal to continue to address the shared challenges that students battling chronic illnesses face in college while also recognizing each individual's unique experience.
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