"Fall seven times, get up eight." I have always said I am stubborn and that's what drives me. I do something if I say I am going to do it. I like to prove people wrong if told I cannot do something. I am a 40-year-old student and this is my second attempt at college. I was diagnosed with systemic lupus along with stage 4 endometriosis, hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and a list of other comorbid conditions 16 years ago. Chronic pain and fatigue are a given and are present every day of my life. I have had several setbacks due to my health but I haven't let it stop me from continuing on my journey. For backstory, I finished high school early and attended a tech school for dental assisting my senior year. I graduated with high honors and was offered a position at a local dental office where I was doing a rotation before graduation. I also volunteered as an EMT for my town from junior year on. I enrolled a few years later to start my path with college to become a certified nurse midwife. While going to school I became a birthing doula and was employed as an LNA at a retirement home. About a year into my freshman year, I started to have health issues like I had when I was around 13 years old with my thyroid but this was much more involved. I was forced to drop out of school at the end of my sophomore year. My body had effectively shut down, I was constantly fatigued, experienced severe pain in bones and joints, and I consistently had at least 2 active infections simultaneously that took months and several rounds of different antibiotics to treat. No doctor or specialist could tell me what was wrong with me. It took several years of seeing over 15 specialists and doctors for the diagnosis of systemic lupus to be found. By the time I was diagnosed, I was living back with my parents and had no income. I was sleeping 20 hours a day and had no quality of life. it is safe to say I was severely depressed. Life was just me trying not to let my organs shut down, taking high doses of steroids was helping with that but I was on almost constant bed rest. I also had mobility issues from the severe arthritis and joint degeneration the lupus had caused. Fast forward 6 years of living like this and I lost both my parents. This prompted the sale of their property which meant I had to find somewhere else to live. I didn't have any money saved up and no other help so I became homeless. I was homeless for about 5 years. That was the most difficult period I have ever gone through. I pulled myself out of that situation by being stubborn and not giving up. That hell ended 5 years ago for me and I have lived in the same apartment ever since. I had a remission of my lupus about 4 years ago that lasted 3.5 years and I decided during that period to go back to school and try to make my life better. Currently, I am a sophomore at a state university, on the Dean's List, and serve on the student council. I hope to achieve great things so I can help people the best way I can even though it isn't clinical, it's still helping patients with health information systems technology. And I have every intention of being stubborn along the way.

Tell me I can’t do something, and I will prove you wrong. I have always been told that I am stubborn, headstrong, and one who doesn’t let up. They say it like it’s a bad thing, I don’t see it as all bad. I like being stubborn in some things and I am convinced that my headstrong approach, my stubbornness, or whatever you would call it, is why I am alive and here today. I am 40 years old. I have been diagnosed with systemic lupus, epilepsy, hypothyroidism, stage 4 endometriosis, ADHD, CPTSD, and various minor issues. I like to half-joke that “at least I kept it interesting”. Currently, I am a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati- Clermont working toward my associate’s degree in health information systems technology fully online. I started my college journey back in January of 2023 and it was not where I would have pictured myself 5 years ago. 5 years ago I was homeless. Being disabled and homeless is one of the hardest trials I have ever been through. I was homeless for almost 5 years after my landlord at the time gave me 2 weeks to move because he was selling the property. I was on disability benefits at that time and it was barely enough to cover the rent so naturally, I had nothing saved up. I moved out with nowhere to go to, I had the vehicle I was in and that was it. What no one tells you is being homeless is expensive. I had no savings and was living off of $1,100 per month. A hotel room in the cheapest places was $65 a night so the car was home. I have never felt so worthless and absolutely the lowest of the low when going through that dehumanizing time in my life. My health suffered and I wasn’t able to take care of myself properly. I have mobility issues due to my lupus and arthritis, I deal with severe edema from my hips down. I faced many challenges with my physical health and my mental health. My psyche was shaken to its core. I was convinced that I was going to die if I remained in this place in life. And I would have if not for my stubbornness and want to prove people wrong. I have lived in the same place for almost 5 years now. At the end of 2022, I decided to go back to school after experiencing my first lupus remission. With lupus, it is unpredictable, and you never know when remission will happen, if it even does, and for how long. The thing you can always count on with lupus is that it will always be back. But I am just as stubborn as my lupus, I will also be back with a vengeance. I can say that if it were not for my sheer stubbornness, which I now call my resilience and tenacity, I would not be here today embarking on a second chance to escape poverty, be productive, and be able to help people. I have just completed a certificate in medical coding and a micro-credential as an electronic health records specialist at UC. This past spring I was selected to be a student advisor on my school’s student council. I have also made the Dean’s list several times and continue to do well in my classes. I hope to keep proving people wrong by continuing with my BS in health information after completing my AAS in May. “Fall 7 times, get up 8.”