Neurofibromatosis, also known as NF is a genetic disorder that creates tumors throughout the body. NF also comes with many other challenges and is different for everyone. I grew up with an IEP and struggled with it. I never would have known it had something to do with NF1. I was diagnosed with NF1 in the year of 2020 of February. June 13th, 2020, was when I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem tumor. I will never forget that day and how hard it was to take that news. I can still hear my mom's scream and tears thinking of it. I was in 9th grade going into 10th grade at the time. I was scared to tell my friends what I had. I did not want them to judge or be freaked out. I became very depressed about the situation and it was hard to go out and get things off my mind because it was in the middle of covid. I started to have a hard time sharing emotions. I thought no one would ever understand what I felt. I would block a lot of close people out and start to distance myself. I hated sympathy but I also wanted support at the same time. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw my disorder. I would cry every night into my pillow wishing I was in a dream. Once 10th grade hit and it was back in school, I was nervous that people could just tell by looking at me, I have NF. It took a while to open up to my friends, but once I did I felt much better. I felt relieved. I had to go for many scans and checkups throughout my years in school, it was stressful and had many times where I would just cry. I became angry a lot and had to learn how to control all the mixed feelings I would develop. As 11th grade came along, It started to become like a normal visit when it was time to get my brain scans. I was used to hearing any news I had to hear. although I still had struggles with my disorder and self-love, it gave me inspiration of what I wanted to do after high school. I wanted to counsel children in hospitals who were diagnosed with disorders or diseases. I stuck with my dream. After 12th grade, I got into Neumann university college for Psychology. My dream is to help children not feel alone like me in my situation. I want children to be heard and be able to say how they feel about everything. Hearing huge news like that as a child is a hard thing to process. A child's brain is not even fully developed yet, so it can be very overwhelming. I want to make a change in others lives and remind them to not lose hope.