Meet Our Founder
Sydney Mosko - Founder of Chronically Turtle
Hi there! My name is Sydney, but most people call me Syd. My chronic illness story, like many of you, is a very long and complicated journey. I suspect that if you find yourself reading this that you either have a, or many, chronic illness(es), or you know someone who does. Like many other chronic illness patients, it took an extremely long time, almost 10 years in my experience, for doctors to start taking my illnesses seriously. It wasn’t until early 2021 that doctors started to actually diagnose and treat my many neglected chronic conditions. Since July 2021, I’ve had two brain surgeries in the span of 8 months, gone from zero meds to two large pill boxes daily, gone from having a single primary care doctor at a family practice to having over 13 specialist physicians and therapists. To say it’s been an adjustment would be a massive understatement, but it has led to the creation of Chronically Turtle, which I hope will be a trusted resource for chronic illness community. I'm building this resource so no one feels alone when dealt with what feels like joker card after joker card. I'm building this resource so no one ever feels like they have no choice and no voice in an any healthcare setting. I'm building this resource so we can empower the conversation around healthcare advocacy and bodily autonomy. Our health directly impacts every single part of our lives; it deserves to be protected and advocated for at any cost. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you and hearing your story. I'll see you around the reef.
-Syd
​
In 2012, my sophomore year of college, I began having progressively worse headaches that over the next three years turned into almost daily migraines. At the young age of 23, an MRI scan revealed a decently sized pituitary tumor. Your pituitary is a fairly small gland that hangs from the bottom of the brain directly behind the eyes. Its main responsibility is to produce certain hormones that play a major role in the function of the human body. I was told that all of my bloodwork (hormone testing) looked fine and that it was a benign (non-cancerous), non-functioning tumor. Very basically, I was told pituitary tumors are common (which they are) and that it wasn't causing any issues and to just "watch it". At the time, being a young female, social convention stated that you trust doctors and don't question their authority. It wasn’t until early 2021 that doctors started to actually diagnose and treat my many neglected chronic conditions. Since July 2021, I’ve had two brain surgeries in the span of 8 months, gone from zero meds to two large pill boxes daily, gone from having a single primary care doctor at a family practice to having over 13 specialist physicians and therapists. To say it’s been an adjustment would be a massive understatement but, it has led to the creation of Chronically Turtle, what I hope will be a vital resource for chronic illness community.
​
The idea for Chronically Turtle came to me a few nights before my first brain surgery. I had just gotten off the phone with yet another social worker that told me there were no benefits or programs for me because I was too young, “making too much money”, and my brain tumor wasn’t "cancerous". Talk about a slap in the face. Due to my health having been fairly poor since about 2011, I have lived very much paycheck to paycheck, and the COVID-19 pandemic sure didn’t help matters at all. I was already financially unstable going into my first surgery, not knowing how long I would need to be off work; post surgery, as you can imagine, I was even more financially unstable. I ended up having to go back to work promptly two weeks after my first surgery and eleven days after my second one, which ended up being a twelve hour surgery and a one week stay in the hospital. To say all of my doctors were on board with this course of action would be comical at best, but financially, I didn’t have another choice.
​
Sadly, this dilemma is all too common in the chronic illness community; especially for young, single adults, who are solely responsible for, well, everything. So many are cast off, doubted, and dismissed because of their age, lack of “visible ailment”, “making too much money” and the list goes on and on. It took me a really long time to get to a place in my journey where I could actually make progress in this endeavor, but now that I’ve started, there’s no way I’m stopping! I want to help as many of you as possible, so please come on in, the water's warm! I am so glad you’re here; please drop me a message, introduce yourself in “The Reef”, a chronic illness community forum for ALL who are affected; whether you are the patient, a friend, family member or a physician, there is a space here for everyone. We also created a private patient only group on Facebook, or if you are looking for a little inspiration you can swim on over to our Pinterest. For anyone who is not a chronic illness patient, such as a friend, family member or physician, there is a Facebook group designed especially for you. For any other resources we have, please head over to "The Beach" for a full break down of all the resources available.
Meet Our Founder
Sydney Mosko - Founder of Chronically Turtle
Hi there! My name is Sydney, but most people call me Syd. My chronic illness story, like many of you, is a very long and complicated journey. I suspect that if you find yourself reading this that you either have a, or many, chronic illness(es), or you know someone who does. Like many other chronic illness patients, it took an extremely long time, almost 10 years in my experience, for doctors to start taking my illnesses seriously. It wasn’t until early 2021 that doctors started to actually diagnose and treat my many neglected chronic conditions. Since July 2021, I’ve had two brain surgeries in the span of 8 months, gone from zero meds to two large pill boxes daily, gone from having a single primary care doctor at a family practice to having over 13 specialist physicians and therapists. To say it’s been an adjustment would be a massive understatement, but it has led to the creation of Chronically Turtle, which I hope will be a trusted resource for chronic illness community. I'm building this resource so no one feels alone when dealt with what feels like joker card after joker card. I'm building this resource so no one ever feels like they have no choice and no voice in an any healthcare setting. I'm building this resource so we can empower the conversation around healthcare advocacy and bodily autonomy. Our health directly impacts every single part of our lives; it deserves to be protected and advocated for at any cost. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you and hearing your story. I'll see you around the reef.
-Syd
​
In 2012, my sophomore year of college, I began having progressively worse headaches that over the next three years turned into almost daily migraines. At the young age of 23, an MRI scan revealed a decently sized pituitary tumor. Your pituitary is a fairly small gland that hangs from the bottom of the brain directly behind the eyes. Its main responsibility is to produce certain hormones that play a major role in the function of the human body. I was told that all of my bloodwork (hormone testing) looked fine and that it was a benign (non-cancerous), non-functioning tumor. Very basically, I was told pituitary tumors are common (which they are) and that it wasn't causing any issues and to just "watch it". At the time, being a young female, social convention stated that you trust doctors and don't question their authority. It wasn’t until early 2021 that doctors started to actually diagnose and treat my many neglected chronic conditions. Since July 2021, I’ve had two brain surgeries in the span of 8 months, gone from zero meds to two large pill boxes daily, gone from having a single primary care doctor at a family practice to having over 13 specialist physicians and therapists. To say it’s been an adjustment would be a massive understatement but, it has led to the creation of Chronically Turtle, what I hope will be a vital resource for chronic illness community.
​
The idea for Chronically Turtle came to me a few nights before my first brain surgery. I had just gotten off the phone with yet another social worker that told me there were no benefits or programs for me because I was too young, “making too much money”, and my brain tumor wasn’t "cancerous". Talk about a slap in the face. Due to my health having been fairly poor since about 2011, I have lived very much paycheck to paycheck, and the COVID-19 pandemic sure didn’t help matters at all. I was already financially unstable going into my first surgery, not knowing how long I would need to be off work; post surgery, as you can imagine, I was even more financially unstable. I ended up having to go back to work promptly two weeks after my first surgery and eleven days after my second one, which ended up being a twelve hour surgery and a one week stay in the hospital. To say all of my doctors were on board with this course of action would be comical at best, but financially, I didn’t have another choice.
​
Sadly, this dilemma is all too common in the chronic illness community; especially for young, single adults, who are solely responsible for, well, everything. So many are cast off, doubted, and dismissed because of their age, lack of “visible ailment”, “making too much money” and the list goes on and on. It took me a really long time to get to a place in my journey where I could actually make progress in this endeavor, but now that I’ve started, there’s no way I’m stopping! I want to help as many of you as possible, so please come on in, the water's warm! I am so glad you’re here; please drop me a message, introduce yourself in “The Reef”, a chronic illness community forum for ALL who are affected; whether you are the patient, a friend, family member or a physician, there is a space here for everyone. We also created a private patient only group on Facebook, or if you are looking for a little inspiration you can swim on over to our Pinterest. For anyone who is not a chronic illness patient, such as a friend, family member or physician, there is a Facebook group designed especially for you. For any other resources we have, please head over to "The Beach" for a full break down of all the resources available.