Rare Disease Quotes

“I often wished that more people understood the invisible side of things. Even the people who seemed to understand, didn't really.”
― Jennifer Starzec, Determination

“I had learned quickly that life doesn't always go the way I want it to, and that's okay. I still plod on.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, Determination

“The strong, ferocious wind just made the chill worse, and as it blew around me, electric bursts of pain shot through my body.”
― Jennifer Starzec, Determination

“The weekend was a much-needed breath of fresh air; Monday always seemed to not only take that breath right back, but add a few extra pounds to my shoulders as well.”
― Jennifer Starzec, Determination

“The video was still playing, although I didn't know why. It seemed as if the able-bodied dancers were mocking me.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, Determination

“Dancing with a spinal cord injury is a challenge like no other, but I aspired to prove to myself that I could still be phenomenal dancer even with an SCI”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“DID is misrepresented in the ICD-10 as a rare disorder. The prevalence of DID found in community samples was between 0.4% (Akyuz, Dogan, Sar, Yargic, & Tutkun, 1999) and 1.5% (Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, & Brook, 2006), whereas its prevalence in psychiatric samples falls in the range of 1 % (Rifkin, Ghisalbert, Dimatou, Jin, & Sethi, 1998), and 2% (Friedl & Draijer, 2000), to 5.4% (Tutkun et al., 1998) and 6% (Foote et al., 2006). One North American study found a prevalence of 12% (Latz, Kramer, & Hughes, 1995). Although the latter finding is exceptional and possibly due to site-specific ascertainment biases, it seems safe to conclude that the prevalence of the disorder is probably at least as high as that of schizophrenia, which is not a rare disorder.”
― Paul H. Blaney, Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology

“I must admit, sometimes I like being alone. I like playing with kids too, but there is always a problem. This problem is how people react when they see me, especially kids. I am always the one who suffers. They stare at me making ugly faces and say some mean words. It really hurts, and I must leave. I really hope that I never meet them again. Being alone protects me.”
― Ghedjati Maroua, The bright side of pain : The story of a boy who wished he could be ordinary.

“Yes, Reader, life can be very annoying and challenging. We
ordinary people (ordinary according to the boy) who do
ordinary things cannot forget these tough memories easily,
as much as we try. Ordinary people find that almost everything is related to the bad moments in our lives.
Some of us may overlook these moments, while others may not forget at all. It all depends on how much that wound is bleeding. However, time is the best cure. These bad times may leave marks, but with time, the pain can
lessen.”
― Ghedjati Maroua, The bright side of pain : The story of a boy who wished he could be ordinary.

“The most beautiful things are the ones that come unexpectedly. It is the unexpected thing that makes the change, and it brings out the best. All we need to do is take risks sometimes dear reader and walk on the path that we fear most. That is the path that’s going to make us grow.”
― Ghedjati Maroua, The bright side of pain : The story of a boy who wished he could be ordinary.

“Reader, when the storm within the mind is over, we will not remember how we survived. The only thing we will be sure of is that we are not the same people we were before the storm. That is all because of the storm. It is the one thing that we must be grateful for, the storm that makes us better than ever.”
― Ghedjati Maroua, The bright side of pain : The story of a boy who wished he could be ordinary.