Hi There! My name is Sydney, but most people call me Syd. My chronic illness story, like many of you, is very long and complicated, and at this point could probably be turned into a novel. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, my chronic illness journey started when I was just two in 1994. However, it wasn’t until early 2021 that doctors started taking me seriously by actually diagnosing and treating 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.

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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.

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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.