The story of Sherry
When I was 19 years old, I woke up with a terrible pain radiating down my left leg, and later had a left foot drop. After a few days of investigations, I was diagnosed with vasculitis. I did not expect at that time that this diagnosis would be life changing and put me on lifelong medications. I’ve lived with this disease for 20 years and my flares have resulted in painful pus-filled ulcers on my feet, leading me to be hospitalized and home-bound for 1-2 months. My medications have caused lowered estrogen levels and osteoporosis, leading to a fractured hip bone in a freak accident a few years ago. There is very low awareness of autoimmune diseases here in Singapore and living with such an ‘invisible’ disease (as you can’t tell from my physical outlook) had led me to advocate for autoimmune diseases. I founded Autoimmune Diseases SG, an informal support group here for people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases. I also started a volunteering group, Be Kind SG, to share on how we can incorporate kindness in our everyday lives and connect the general public to ‘less visible’ communities such as adults with special needs.
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