For Part 1 of Laurie’s Life with Dysautonomia, click here.

For anyone who is still doubting Dysautonomia and POTS, I’ve come up with what I call the Dysautonomia Party Trick Challenge. Please watch my video and try it out for yourself. You can’t fake this if you tried!

My name is Laurie Lelacheur. I’m honored and humbled to be a contributor to Patient Worthy. Some of you might already know me from my facebook page Face of Dysautonomia. I’m currently on the Suicide Prevention board at Standing Up to POTS and work with them on other projects. I work closely with The Dysautonomia Project and helped with their groundbreaking book Understanding Autonomic Nervous System Disorders for Physicians and Patients. I work closely with the Dysautonomia Advocacy Foundation and help with projects such as FundCourage. I’m a state chapter leader for the Dysautonomia Support Network and help admin for their Facebook support groups, as well as help with other projects and events like the Suffering the Silence campaign. I was part of this year’s Top Squad for Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2015.

I’ve dedicated my life to helping spread awareness for Dysautonomia and POTS.

My journey, though tough and long, has brought me to a place where I’m able to represent thousands of people just like me. These people are without a voice and I’m blessed to be able to speak up and be that voice for them. God has lead me to where I’m at right now and shown me that one person can truly make a difference in the lives of others. Really, all it takes one person to make change!

I’ve seen and been through a lot in my 38 years on this planet. If you looked at me, you would never in a million years think I’ve been through any of it, especially with an invisible illness to boot. Though I have been sick most of my life, that doesn’t stop other realities of living from taking place. I was adopted, lived in a rough neighborhood and at times, experienced homelessness and domestic violence. I’ve had to cope with the loss of close friends and family, all while battling dysautonomia.

So stay tuned for more from me because I have a lot to share! I’m going to try and write weekly but with the ups and downs of life and fighting my illnesses, things don’t always go as planned. I hope you will follow along with me here on my journey as I write my stories, life adventures and struggles with invisible illness for Patient Worthy and I look forward to seeing your comments.

‘Til next time… and always remember to #thinkB4Ujudge. Laurie

Stay tuned for more articles to come by Laurie who is struggling with Postural Orthostatic Tachyardia (POTS), Hypovolemia, Neurocardiogenic Syncope (NCS) and Orthostatic Hypotension (OH). She is very involved in the Dysautonomia community through The Dysautonomia Project, Standing Up to POTS, the Dysautonomia Advocacy Foundation and the Dysautonomia Support Network, to name a few!