Scimitar Syndrome

Did you know chronic pain affects approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide? And it impacts them differently from persistent yet manageable pain to debilitating symptoms needing multiple hospital admissions, regular medication or even no treatment available? Chronic pain is pain which usually lasts longer than six months, which often doesn’t just cause physical pain, but for [...]

Did you know the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1 in 15 people worldwide live with a rare disease? That actually means that having a rare disease isn’t uncommon, so why are a lot of rare diseases so unknown? In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic I decided to make it my mission to [...]

Entering the emergency room means you are feeling vulnerable and need some help. People are there for so many different reasons: those in physical pain, or needing life-saving treatment, people visiting family members in their time of need, experiencing mental health crises and so much more. When I was there last week, it really put everything into [...]

The saying “you look well” is usually a lovely comment to hear. But when you hear it time and time again when you don’t actually feel well, it can get you down. I don’t just hear it from friends and colleagues, I also hear it from doctors and nurses when I am feeling incredibly vulnerable. [...]

In March of this year I was elected into an exciting role, Vice President of Welfare at my students’ union. It wasn’t just a role I thought would suit me, but it was also an environment I had been really involved with throughout my undergraduate studies, so what better way to give something back? I [...]

I am just going to say it how it is: invisible illnesses are so annoying! It is nice to appear “healthy,” but having an invisible illness means that people don’t instantly know that you have an illness or disability. I recently sat down with a friend and started talking about my illness, scimitar syndrome. After explaining how it [...]

Dear Heart and Lungs, I would just like to thank you. I know “thank you” isn’t what you were expecting to hear, but I honestly do mean it in a positive way. It wasn’t the best start in life, but even though I was eight weeks premature, you were ready to fight even before you [...]

The phrase “gift of life” is usually reserved for someone who had a transplant and got a special second chance in life. Even though I haven’t had a transplant, I feel I’ve been given a gift in life: To live my life to the fullest as a way thank my doctors, family and friends for [...]

Dear medical professionals, As quoted by Rare Disease UK, 7 percent of the general population will have a rare disease in their lifetime. This may not sound like a big percentage, but this 7 percent consists of vulnerable people who may need lots of care and treatment in the hospital. But while the hospital may seem [...]