Tori

I was a freshman in high school, begging the school nurse to call an ambulance because I was having a heart attack. This was after months of passing out, vomiting, chest pain, optical migraines, and many more physical oddities I experienced at school with no medical explanation. My life had seemingly no outrageous issues outside of the high school ‘normal’, I was in denial I was having panic attacks. It wasn’t until I was medicated, I was able to survive a full day of school; however, now I was paralyzed with crippling depression. With medication regulation, therapy, and an outpour of familial, friend, and educator support, I was empowered to be relentless against my mental health diagnosis. I took the second semester of my freshman year from home, returned to school sophomore year, and began to thrive my junior and senior year achieving academic and musical goals I never thought feasible.

Presently, I am an advocate that every child deserves to not just survive, but the opportunity to thrive, regardless of circumstances.

You can, you will, you are.

You can survive this, you will be okay, you are strong, capable, and loved.