This subject is strongly important to me, to understand why I'll explain my past history of health. I best start at the beginning I'm a burn "victim" (I use inverted commas because I don't feel victimized nor do I need the sympathy that follows the word)
Anyway when I was one and a half I pulled the wire of a kettle over myself. I have 3rd degree burns to my left arm, face and right leg as the freshly boiled kettle poured over me I turned cause it to splash/fall on said areas. After months in hospital I left with more scars than I entered with- which was all down to saving my life through the use of skin graphs.
The following 18 years of my life were spent in and out of hospital, to this day I still get minor operations to help movement and to help stretch my skin.
Despite such a harsh beginning I'm so grateful to be here, I've had so many nurses doctors and surgeons dedicate time and care to me and my health.
As you might imagine school life wasn't easy for me, looking so different (my scars were much more noticeable when I was younger, they have faded over time almost all are a normal skin colour. When the scars were fresher, they were bright red pink and purple) I experienced my first dose (that I can remember) of bulling in primary 1, from what I remember it wasn't extreme, just older kids (5 years older then me) spinning me round in the lunch hall to laugh and point at the scars on my face and left ear. Life from then onwards wasn't that easy. As imagined it's broken my mothers heart seeing me getting treated different to other children, it never made me resent anyone, my need to be accepted was much more important.
My first two years of high school were spent trying not to draw attention to myself, this was around the time my depression became clear and now that I think about it, it was probably the root of my anxiety problems. I'd break down if I knew I had to talk in front of peers, and to this day I still hold my breath when walking past people when I'm on my own. I've always been thin, but its only been in recent years I've hit and stayed on my target weight. I was so incredibly thin and pale when I was younger, but I cant ever remember having an issue with food. My childhood memory is gappy, no doubt for a reason. My theory on this is why dig up upsetting thoughts/memories if I'm happy with my life as it is now.
In my third year I think I snapped and took on the 'no bullsh*t' part of my personality, from then onwards were normal problem, dealing with idiot neds. School wasn't plain sailing, and it definitely wasn't the 'best time of my life' that people keep making it out to be. Because the balance of neds overweighted the amount of kids that actually wanted to learn/ took interest in the class, the majority of the teachers were so overwhelmed they'd rather give in to the neds/problem children than deal with the problem itself, making average kid's school life hell.
I have depression but consider myself in remission, because I'm fine as it stands today and have been the past year but it's an illness and you never know what could happen in the future. Later in my school life I suffered from hypersomma (excessive sleep) no matter how much sleep I got I'd still feel tired and after my school/college day I'd have to go back to sleep for an hour or two. The friends I made in both school and college are still my friends today, they make the hard times bearable.
Who I am today- I consider myself optimistic, I feel happy and ambitious. In my opinion dealing with life's many stresses should always be considered when anyone's connection with such a serious project topic. Dealing with an alcoholic parent brings me to my next argument, alcohol and addiction.
Overall I've learned from my past but I feel theses issues have to be addressed. Hopefully this will help towards your understanding to why this project is so important to me.
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