When Ashley Owen was a year and a half old, her family received news that would forever change their lives.
As described through her silent but powerful Youtube video, Ashley was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called NOMID, or Neonatal Onset Multisystem Inflammatory Disease.
The disease, which only has 100 reported cases in the United States, has no cure. So Ashley takes two full syringes of antibiotic every day to calm her symptoms.
At first, her doctors didn’t think she would live more than a couple of months, then her diagnosis changed. Now she wouldn’t live to see her fifth birthday.
But she’s 17 now and very much alive, and this NOMID survivors has something to say.
Ashley took to YouTube to voice through written cards the several frustrations she deals with on a regular basis. One of her biggest frustrations? People commenting on her height and calling her short, a consequence of her NOMID diagnosis. But, in the midst of it all, she stays positive.
And with that positivity, she shared these five tips for us to all live our lives a little better:
- Keep hopeful. To anyone going through tough times, keep your head high. You will make it through the situation you’re going through.
- Do not judge solely based on appearances. Nobody knows what other people are going through on a daily basis.
- The last thing people need is someone else putting them down. Be kind to each other.
- Don’t assume. You know the saying. Assumptions make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”
- Lastly, the hard stuff makes you stronger. It’s character building, really.
See Ashley’s full video below.
