This year's EDS & HSD May Awareness Month coincides with the beginning of medical leave I am taking to get my hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome under better control. Lacking a diagnosis for the first 29 years of my life (very common for people with EDS), I put my body through a LOT because I didn't know any better. It has finally had enough of the "just push through it" method that, despite my constant pain and boom and bust cycles, helped me succeed by conventional measures.

This time of rest, recovery, and re-educating my body in how to move with the help of my providers is a new, exciting, scary—and privileged—journey. Instead of continuing the "push through it" approach by fundraising through physical exertion, I ask that you support me in actively carving out this space for rest and better health during and beyond this awareness month by donating to the Ehlers-Danlos Society, an organization that does so much to support the EDS/HSD community.

The Ehlers-Danlos Society is dedicated to advancing and accelerating research and education in Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD). Many around the world face a diagnostic odyssey: years, sometimes lifetimes, fighting for recognition, diagnosis, and care. We are working to create a world in which each person living with EDS or HSD has the right treatment and care at the right time for their specific needs. By donating to The Ehlers-Danlos Society, you can help fund world-class educational programs, pioneering research, and life-changing support. Every gift, no matter the size, helps to advance our cause. Together we dazzle!