CLOSER TO THE HEART CREATIONS LLC
DAVIE, FLORIDA

Hi! My name is Valérie. I am a mother to two wonderful kids and a wife to the best husband! I work full time as a Solution Architect at Esko as well as running my own small business: making and selling jewelry and as a Fashion Consultant selling LuLaRoe. I also have an invisible illness (which really is a full time job in and of itself), but try my absolute best to live my life to its fullest, making people happy, and keep a healthy perspective on what’s important in life. Like family pictures in the TARDIS 🙂 are the basic principles guiding LuLaRoe today. The ethos of the company was borne out of DeAnne’s desire to share her experiences and to provide her family and others a foundation for personal success. LuLaRoe exists to provide an opportunity for people to create freedom by selling comfortable, affordable, stylish clothing, and offering its consultants the independence to set their own pace and schedule. This creates the time to spend with those closest to them, the very thing DeAnne had once desired for herself!” I have been sick for a very long time. I started doing physical therapy around the age of 11, had an IBS diagnosis at 14, and started losing my ability to walk at 17. At 19 I had my lower spine fused together, and although I was able to walk, the trauma of the major surgery activated my fibromyalgia. Not even 2 years later, the H1N1 vaccine triggered ME/CFS. This denial meant that I built my life around performing only the best parts of myself for other people. Scared to show what it really looked like when I crash. Normalizing the episodes of full body paralysis that were occurring daily. The only exception to this is my husband; he’s had a first row seat to this shit show since day 1. But it’s time to quit that shit. The painful self-care I am doing now is coming to terms with the fact that I am sick. Very sick. It’s time to make drastic changes to my life. No more pretending. Years of putting on a healthy front have progressed my illness to being homebound, spending 90% of my day in bed. Every decision has to be weighed (should I shower today, or do a load of laundry?), and everything comes at a price. For years I had only been factoring in the short-term cost, unaware of the long-term damage. Now I’m trying to course-correct. I am taking a leave of absence from my full-time employment. I handed off all physical aspects of my LuLaRoe business to my sister. We hired help to clean the house, pick up the kids, make dinner, and put them to bed. Yes, putting true self-care first means I can no longer care for my own children. Very few specialists exist, since ME/CFS is only covered in ~1/3 of medical schools. There is no cure. There isn’t a tried and true treatment plan. There isn’t a single on-label medication cleared by the FDA. The stigma is felt just as strongly in medical environments too; “You’re too young to be this sick,” “There’s no way you can have this many illnesses,” and “Please don’t come back, I can’t help you” are a sampling of things I’ve been told by doctors. This is harmful. I will readily admit that I do not write this illness on medical history forms when at the ER or seeing new doctors in fear of being dismissed. I spent 4 years completely unaware I had this illness, then waited another 4 years to become a patient of Dr. Klimas, one of the few ME/CFS experts. Access to proper medical care is a huge barrier for ME/CFS sufferers. This is a plea to help me and everyone else with this crippling disease. Spread the word. Share this knowledge. Help educate everyone, from friends to medical professionals. I have linked many different sources below. Please take a look and share: help those who are too sick to speak up and advocate for themselves! I make choices every day around my illness. I make small choices, like buying extra swimsuits and pajamas for my kids because it makes it easier for me in case I am having a bad sickness day. I make big choices, like going to work because it helps me mentally. It has become more difficult and challenging to make this choice. There are many days that I wonder if it is the right choice. But for now, I will continue to make it. No one ever asks me why I make certain choices in regards to being sick. It is always “you should do this” or “you should do that.” If you have a chronically ill person in your life, start asking what choices they have to make and why they are making them. Don’t judge them because they went on vacation last weekend and this weekend they can’t get out of bed. Chronic illness is not a month or a year, it is forever. Think about if you were sick every day for the rest of your life — what choices would you make? Be there for them when they have to make a difficult choice. Remember that they may have to do things differently then you would. Leave the assumptions behind — you don’t have to understand what they are going through to be supportive. If you have a chronic illness, I hope you are making and will continue to make that same choice. I have been sick for a very long time. I started doing physical therapy around the age of 11, had an IBS diagnosis at 14, and started losing my ability to walk at 17. At 19 I had my lower spine fused together, and although I was able to walk, the trauma of the major surgery activated my fibromyalgia. Not even 2 years later, the H1N1 vaccine triggered ME/CFS. This denial meant that I built my life around performing only the best parts of myself for other people. Scared to show what it really looked like when I crash. Normalizing the episodes of full body paralysis that were occurring daily. The only exception to this is my husband; he’s had a first row seat to this shit show since day 1. But it’s time to quit that shit. The painful self-care I am doing now is coming to terms with the fact that I am sick. Very sick. It’s time to make drastic changes to my life. No more pretending. Years of putting on a healthy front have progressed my illness to being homebound, spending 90% of my day in bed. Every decision has to be weighed (should I shower today, or do a load of laundry?), and everything comes at a price. For years I had only been factoring in the short-term cost, unaware of the long-term damage. Now I’m trying to course-correct. I am taking a leave of absence from my full-time employment. I handed off all physical aspects of my LuLaRoe business to my sister. We hired help to clean the house, pick up the kids, make dinner, and put them to bed. Yes, putting true self-care first means I can no longer care for my own children.