NF Stories

Shad – A Face of NF

I joined the Army at 19 years old. I did all the training and arrived at my duty station. In the mornings we did physical training, which involves running. Well, my knee started to hurt after a while, and I ignored it. I enjoyed running, as it’s great way to clear my head and I was pretty good. Well, eventually it hurt to where it couldn’t be ignored. I went to doctors and got an x-ray. A few months passed and I got results. There were white splotches were all over. The doctor sent me to a few different doctors to get tested. Then the results came in. In March of 2014,  I was diagnosed with NF1. The Army tried to push me out, but I said no. I was given Neurontin to help ease pain. So far, I have had 4 tumors removed. I still can do everything I like to do, and I won’t let NF1 beat me. I’m 26 now and my knee is the main thing that hurts. I don’t any meds at the moment but I’m working on finding doctors. I have NF1 and that’s my story.

-Shad

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