 Carissa Myre I have struggled a lot over the years with Tourette Syndrome. I tried several medications but the side effects were to difficult to handle. A lot of my tics have been very muscular and have caused chronic pain in the area. The more anxious that I get about things, the worse my tics get. I try to hide them when I am out of the house and this is very difficult. I have had people at school and dance asking me “why do you do that?” and then when I tell them I have Tourette Syndrome, they usually don’t know what it is. My family has been very supportive over the years and they have done everything that they can to help me which has included my Mom staying home and not working in order to help myself and my brother (he also has it but milder). Although on the outside it may look as though I am “high functioning” , every day is a struggle for me and trying to live a normal life of going to school full time, extracurricular, working on my music and socializing can be very difficult for me to keep up with . I also have a combined diagnosis of OCD and generalized anxiety which has complicated things even further. I have had to stay living at home and commuting to school because I am well aware that I would not do well in a dormitory setting. Because of this I have to support owing and running a car and all of the repairs because my parents cannot afford this. I feel that I deserve this scholarship because I am working as hard as I can to make ends meet but it is by no means an easy life and just having the stress off me that I can repair my old car when it breaks down would be huge. That is my main need of additional income at the moment, in order to carry the cost of my old (2006) car so that I can get back and forth to school . It would also be great to have the recognition that I am living every day with a difficult disease that I may have to deal with forever. I have made as many alterations to my lifestyle as possible but it still follows me around all day, every day. Thank you for your consideration. |
