My Elephant Anonymous

I’ve had an elephant on my chest for as long as I can remember. On three occasions, I’ve been in a hospital bed not knowing if I would be alive the next day. The elephant was suffocating me. My divorced parents were forced to come together in a hard time. The stress of my deteriorating health weighed on them. I watched them as they tried to put on a brave face for me. I watched them fight in the hallway of the hospital. I could do nothing but lay in that bed while the elephant crushed me. As I grew stronger, I pushed the elephant off me, got out of that bed, and continued on with my life.

Although the elephant still sits on me, it does not control me.

I may look like any other teenage girl struggling to figure herself out, and that’s true. But with countless doctor appointments and endless prescriptions, I fight everyday to be normal, to breathe normally. I constantly need some type of medicine to open up my lungs. While I’m always aware of the burden of my elephant, it has not created a road block for my life. I cannot have anything holding me back from my active life and busy schedule.

I am on the varsity dance team. I’ve met my best friends on the team and found an art that I excel in. But with this art comes stress. The...