ERICA DEAZSA: HER FIGHT WITH ANTISYNTHETASE SYNDROME.
YES, ITS LONG TERM TILL SHE GETS A LUNGS TRANSPLANT. I HOPE YOU GET THE LUNGS TRANSPLANT SOON🥺🥺
I know her well on Instagram. Erica Deazsa!... Beautiful girl with so much strength.
Let me tell you about Erica
When the Body Becomes Its Own Enemy: A Love Letter to Erica, and to Everyone Living with Invisible Illnesses
Dear Erica,
Sometimes, the body betrays itself. And sometimes, it fights in silence beneath a calm face, behind a practiced smiile.
Erica Deazsa has been teaching us this truth, not by theory, but by living it. For years, she was misdiagnosed. Skin fungus, they said. Then asthma. Then allergies. But the body, wise and weary, kept whispering its truth until someone finally listened.
In April 2022, the diagnosis came, Antisynthetase Syndrome a rare autoimmune condition where the body turns against its own cells, its own muscles, its own breath.
And there was Myositis, that thief of strength. And Interstitial Lung Disease, that cruel reminder that even air, the one thing we all take for granted can become a luxury.
At one point, Erica’s lungs worked at just 46% capacity. Forty-six percent. Less than half a breath. Yet she used that half to raise awareness, to speak for others who live unseen.
To Erica, if you ever read this, I want you to know that you have become a mirror for so many, reflecting the truth that illness does not need to be visible to be valid. You are proof that courage is not always loud, and that healing is not always linear.
We are praying you get that lung transplant soon. And until then, may every breath, however laboured, remind you that your story is still changing lives.
To everyone living with invisible illnesses, you are not lazy. You are not weak. You are not seeking attention. You are fighting battles the world cannot see, and you are doing it with grace that deserves reverence.
Because sometimes, survival itself is the loudest form of bravery.
We welcome David Daniels as the new Executive Director of HSG. On behalf of the Board, a very warm welcome to David and sincere thanks to Karen Stephenson, who is stepping down, for all her contributions to the Society.
Opening ceremony of the annual meeting of the STOP-NCD project consortium. Several participants from the UK, Canada, Ghana, Niger & Burkina took part in this major event.
@NIHR@Aseshi
@UCAO-UBB,
@LSHTM
@GhCoPS
#NIHR, #NIHRSTOPNCDWestAfrica