As a yearbook staff member at Grand Blanc High, we were assigned to conduct a StoryCorps interview with a family member. The goals of this assignment were to become comfortable with interviewing, being curious, asking questions, and most importantly learning how to listen and ask follow up questions. I interviewed my older sister, Lauren, about her genetic disorder MEN1 and how it has impacted her life. You can listen to the interview here. But what follows is the story I wrote about her past, her disease, and her future.

Lauren Fox missed nearly half of her senior year of high school all because of something that was out her control.

“Constantly poking your finger, constantly drinking juice, eating sugar, just never feeling good,” She said.

Lauren was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called MEN1 at eight years old. She wasn’t informed of this diagnosis until she was fifteen, which was a few months after her father passed away of the very same disease.

“You get tumors of the endocrine system. Mainly your pituitary gland, your parathyroid glands, and your pancreas,” Fox said.

Learning to adjust her lifestyle to coincide with her disorder has not been simple. The tumors cause her blood sugar to drop rapidly. This low sugar has had a direct impact on her quality of life through the years.

“You get shaky. You get headaches. You nauseous. You get confused. You get dizzy. I can’t focus very well. You just go through a lot of things,” She added.

But she believes there’s a bright side to all of her pain and struggling. Because of her experience with his disorder, a passion has grown in her to care for others and share her story through nursing.

After her first day of clinicals for the nursing program at University of Michigan-Flint she said with absolute reassurance and positivity, “This is what I want to do. I’m so happy. I’m so excited. I’ve never been so excited about school.”

Despite her lack of a childhood and tragic health history, she remains to be endlessly optimistic and forward thinking.

“I think even though it’s something so tragic and terrible, it makes you a better person.”

Her years of pain, fear, and worrying drift away. All she thinks about now is the future- being a nurse, being a mother, being a wife, and being happy.