Sav's Story - The importance of kindness in times of struggle
"Being sick has taught me many things."
Hello, I'm Sav, and I’m 17 at the time of writing this. I was a very happy-go-lucky child with wonderful parents, a lovely dog, and the best friends and school a girl could ask for. However, in March 2020, that all changed. I went to England with my dad to see family right before COVID-19 became a major issue. I returned on the day of the travel ban.
At that time, I lived in Texas, and DFW airport was one of the only airports still operating. When my dad and I got to immigration, there were hundreds of people piled together, and no one was wearing masks since COVID-19 wasn’t widely known yet. We were stuck there for four hours. When I got home, I was thrilled to see my mom and my dog. Unfortunately, that happiness didn’t last long.
My dad eventually started feeling unwell and lost his sense of taste and smell. We brushed it off until my mom and I also fell ill. I think that was the sickest I’ve ever been in my life. I was completely bedbound for three weeks, wracked with pain and fatigue. After that, I never felt normal again. The symptoms lingered for months, and when I went to the doctor, no one knew about long COVID, so all appointments ended with more questions than answers.
As the days passed, I felt worse and worse. Muscle pain, nerve pain, joint pain, violent nausea, vertigo, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and other lingering symptoms plagued me. Over the months, I seemed to improve. I could do more, was back in school, and felt okay—until November 2020. A friend came over for Halloween and didn’t tell me she was sick. She was coughing and sniffly, but I attributed it to her allergies since she was prone to coughs this time of year.
The next day, after she left, I woke up with a sore throat. I’m prone to sleeping with my mouth open, so I tried drinking water to see if it would help. When the soreness didn’t go away and I couldn’t taste the tea I was drinking, I knew something was wrong. The next day, I got tested, and right as my mom and I were leaving the testing parking lot, my friend’s mom texted us, saying both she and her dad tested positive for COVID-19. That’s when everything went downhill.
The first thing that started failing was my thyroid, and I was eventually diagnosed with Hashimoto's. A few months later, I noticed my heart rate was unnaturally high when standing, and my legs had a purplish-blue color. I was sent to a cardiologist and quickly diagnosed with POTS. When I started beta blockers for it, my symptoms seemed to ease. I was back in school again, and everything seemed decent.
However, when we moved from Texas to Colorado, my health took a massive nosedive. I was housebound for over a year, plagued with severe pain and depression, painful joint dislocations, and was diagnosed with EDS. But after that year, I started doing really well. New medications helped, and I began going out, working out, and socializing again. I was in online school at the time and almost started hoping I could return to in-person school.
Later in 2023, my dad had a job change, which caused us to move 30 minutes closer to Denver, where he was working. When we moved earlier this year (2024), I started deteriorating again. I could still do things, but I was significantly more sluggish. Everything was alright until a few weeks ago when I took yet another massive nosedive. I’ve been sleeping for 16 hours at a time and still feeling exhausted, experiencing extreme joint pain and terrible temperature regulation. I had also gained about 20 pounds in a few months, despite maintaining a healthy diet. Just the other day, I saw my doctor and begged him to help me. I sat in the office, distraught and at a loss for what to do. He eventually gave me a few new medications. This is my last solution before I'm out of options, so I’m really hoping this works.
Being sick has taught me many things. One of those lessons is to be grateful for what you can do. I took my health for granted before I got sick. When it was taken away from me, I realized how important simple functions like walking, waking up, getting out of bed, having friends, and going to school are. I used to beat myself up over my downfalls, but now I’m just grateful for what my body can do.
It also taught me not to judge others. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors. But the most important lesson I’ve learned is to be kind. You have no idea how much a simple compliment can mean to someone. At the time of writing this, I am trying to pursue a career in therapy for children. I know what it’s like to have your feelings invalidated and to be called a lying attention-seeker, and I don’t want any kids to feel the way I did. I want them to feel valid, loved, and safe.
I know this may sound like one big sob story, but it’s really just a message to be kind to others. I’ve been through so much, and no one ever bothered to help me. When I’ve received compliments, even for the smallest things, it absolutely lights up my world. Being sick taught me a lesson in a way—I was treated so terribly by people when I was sick that it taught me the importance of kindness. It’s an awful way to learn, but it truly opened my eyes. I’m grateful that I now see what kindness can do for people.
