Meet our next #WarriorOfTheWeek! Hear how Jessica first discovered she had #VisualSnowSyndrome and how, despite her struggles, she began to be able to look right past the static. ??
Spotlight on: Jessica Ryan ?
“My name is Jessica Ryan. I’m 32 and a mother of a sweet little boy. About a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension. 3 months after that, one morning, I woke up and my vision was all kinds of different. I already had damage from my swollen optic nerves because of my IIH.
At first I thought, well, maybe it’s from my medication? I didn’t get too scared. And then I googled. And researched. And then I discovered I had VSS as well.
I was terrified. How could I have possibly gotten 2 rare conditions in a matter of months? I wore sunglasses everywhere I went, day and night. For some reason it gave me comfort. It helped with my eye pain from the photophobia as well.
I started singing less and when I did, I was uncomfortable. I would be wearing my sunglasses. Seeing all of the static made me so nervous to perform. Not being able to see people’s faces clearly while they stared at me was very frightening.
But one day, I stopped. I stopped wearing the sunglasses. I stopped worrying about it so much because I hit a point of telling myself “enough is enough”. I find myself looking right past the static most of the time unless someone brings it up.
Our vision may be different. But we can still see. ?”
