Meet our #Warrioroftheweek, Jared Daws 💙
Spotlight on: Jared Daws
Hello!
My name is Jared Daws, and I’m a singer-songwriter from southern Louisiana. About a year ago, I experienced a heat-related incident that led to my hospitalization for three and a half days. I was constantly dizzy, felt detached from my body, couldn’t eat or sleep, among other things. During my stay, I underwent several MRIs and a spinal tap. Fortunately, it was ruled out that I had a heat stroke, but this only raised more flags and questions. Why do I feel so terrible? Why does my vision change as time passes? Why am I not improving?
I started seeing doctors nearly every week in search of answers. Everything seemed perfect, except for my mental state. One of my doctors suggested returning to an SSRI since I had used them in the past for anxiety. Desperate for relief, I agreed and was prescribed Fluvoxamine. After about a month, while driving at night, I experienced a surreal moment where reflective road dividers appeared to hover like ghosts. I immediately informed my doctor, and we switched to Zoloft. However, this caused an intense reaction with constant panic and a burning sensation on my skin.
We then tried Prozac, which had no adverse effects but also provided no relief. About a month or two later, another doctor prescribed Effexor, and finally, I felt significantly better. However, a few weeks in, I woke up one night and noticed a grainy appearance to everything. Unsure of its significance, I went back to sleep and later consulted my ophthalmologist. They confirmed my eyes were healthy and advised me to follow up with my neurologist. That’s when I learned about Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS).
Discovering VSS was a double-edged sword. On one hand, I had an answer to my visual disturbances, but on the other, I realized how little is understood about this condition, affecting my outlook for the future. Turning to the one thing that always brought me comfort—music—I grabbed my guitar and composed the song that became the title track for my upcoming album, “Snow Below.” Since this condition was initially hellish for me, and some days still are, the name for the song just made sense. The tagline in the song is “One thing I certainly know, there’s snow below.”
A good friend filmed a music video for the song, released on my YouTube channel yesterday. We decided to incorporate visual effects mimicking how I see now. I hope this song and video resonate with our community, letting them know that they’re not alone in their battles. Music is therapy and the one thing that unites us all.
Thank you for reading my story.
