I promise I will return to my story but I thought I would do a quick blog on the story published in Irish News today.
After the amazing response to my Belfast Live article ahead of World Narcolepsy day, I wanted to continue raising awareness of Narcolepsy. A few people had contacted me to say that they were going to get their symptoms checked out. To me, this meant everything that my article would have an impact, no matter how small. If it helped just one person get diagnosed earlier then it would make all the difference!
I spoke to Jenny Lee, health correspondent at Irish News to see if she would be interested in hearing a bit more of my story. Jenny was absolutely wonderful to work with and her questions were so insightful. She read my blog too which was a huge honour- Hi Jenny if you’re reading! I gave her a complete essay in answering her questions but she did an amazing job of condensing my ramblings into a cohert, well written article! I am so pleased that she conveyed my message exactly as I wanted. With the Belfast Live article and the Irish News article I didn’t want either to be tragic or as if I felt truly sorry for myself because that isn’t the case. I wanted to share a bit of my journey with the intention of raising awareness but also highlighting that Narcolepsy does not define me. I share my story in the hope that it might help someone else. I know these days people that open up about their illnesses are often seen as self-absorbed but this couldn’t be further from the truth. I have read stories of others that have helped me and as Caroline from Replenish often says ‘your story could be the page in someone else’s survival guide’.
So what’s next for me now? I hope to continue to raise awareness in whatever form that will take (or who will take on my story and ramblings haha) and do more blog posts for you all to laugh at and relate somewhere in there too. See Jenny’s wonderfully written article below which includes links to Narcolepsy Ireland and Narcolepsy UK where you can read more about symptoms etc:
p.s. I’m beside Nadine Coyle on the website woohoo!! Derry girls representtttttt haha
p.p.s. I worked hard to keep this as short and ramble free as possible, I’m super proud of myself!
p.p.p.s oh wait I forgot…go follow me on Instagram for some average pictures and sleepy comments @thegirlwhoranawayinhersleep
