The story of Jessie
I was born on October 21st 1987. To a loving mother & father. The moment I was born the doctors noticed both of my legs, ankles and feet were extremely swollen. My mom was horrified. The doctors had no idea what was happening. They tested me for everything you can think of. My 1st diagnosis was turner syndrome. Then the doctors quickly realized that wasn’t it. Doctors from Boston, Massachusetts came to diagnose me. They told mother it was a rare genetic condition called Milroy’s Disease. My mom was panic stricten & had very little help from doctors. It was hard to treat what I had. It was a struggle growing up. The pain, the lack of proper shoes & compression garments didn’t help my situation. As I got older medicine advanced and I eventually found treatments. Fast forward to July 3rd 2017 when I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Much to my horror she was also diagnosed with Milroy’s Disease. The only difference was that I had it in both ankles, feet & legs. My daughter has it in one leg, foot & ankle. Since then medicine has advanced and i try hard to make sure she gets the proper treatment. Shes been through physical therapy, got fitted for a compression garment and I found proper shoes. As girls its sad to not be able to buy cute little dress shoes for my daughter. I pray that they make pretty dress shoes that will work for my daughter. My hope is that someday they find a way to fix our lymphatic systems and drain the fluid safely. Until then, I will advocate for myself and my daughter.