Episode 65:The Monster on the Playground, by Olivia Eggers

• 

• 

On March 6th of this year, I received an email from Olivia. She had joined us in celebrating World Lymphedema Day earlier via our live hangout event (IT WAS A GREAT TIME!) Although she has had lymphedema for many years now, this was her first time to really participate in WLD. She told me in her email “I am so glad that I finally mustered up the courage to get involved. As I had said in the chat, I am a 23 year old who was born with primary lymphedema across my entire body and boy has it been a rollercoaster of a life! “

In the moment I made it about me, I am human and generally the first person I think about it myself, sorry. Her email made me feel proud that I withstood the challenges of scheduling the guest speakers, creating the advertisements, practicing on the live stream platform, waking up early, getting a baby sitter, and managing to still pump while away from my son. (Yeah, I went there)

But five seconds after reading the email I thought “WOW, I am so glad she had the courage to join us. It must have been such a relief to hear stories from others who share her experience. She must have felt so alone all of these years!” and that brought me to tears. The next morning I read her blog post and looked her up on Instagram. More tears!

Olivia is a beautiful woman with a radiant smile, killer piano skills, and voice to boot! I am jealous of anyone who can sing, it is the one talent I wish I had.

Reading Olivias’ blog entry made me think of so many children who feel this way or will face these same challenges is we don’t do something: Cora, Kyli, Emma, Brylan, Noah, Tristan, Miguel, Mark, Ryland, Klaus…the list literally goes on and on in my mind. To the point of fury! As a mother now, I see this disease through a new lense. Before Holt, I was empathetic, compassionate, and sad for those who live every day with this disease. Now, with my son in my arms, I am hell bent on helping children learn the treatment regimen as early as physically possible to diminish the effects of fibrotic tissue in babies, finding mental health professionals to support the families, and teaching more CLTs how to effectively treat children throughout their lives and not just once a year check ups.

Olivia,

I sincerely hope I did your blog post justice by reading your heart felt words for others to hear. You are radiant. Do not let anyone else ever treat you like you are less: beautiful, worthy, able, or deserving of happiness. You are not a monster on the playground, you are a WARRIOR.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download