Sometimes tough things happen to little people. Things that make them ask, ‘Why me?’ Things they feel they will never be able to overcome.
And then there is ‘The Reason.’
I have had the pleasure of mentoring a charming young blogger who has been dealt the difficult hand of living with Celiac. If you are unfamiliar, those who suffer from this illness need to live a Gluten-Free life.
According to Celiac.com Celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance, is a genetic disorder that affects at least 1 in 133 Americans. There are a host of complications that I will leave you to explore if you wish.
But what I am here to tell you about is not how sad it is that she has this illness, but how she has learned to LIVE with it – and to take it one step further. How she found her voice, took the hardest thing in her life and committed to helping other teens feel a little less alone in their struggle.
The daily complications of navigating adolescence is hard enough, trying to do so with such strict dietary restrictions takes it to a whole new level. When her mom came to me I totally related as I had suffered from severe food allergies as a teen and could not eat wheat or chocolate. This was back in the day where specialty foods where unheard of (you know, because I am old). I remember the way it felt when everyone was eating pizza and soft pretzels, chocolate shakes and pasta and I was sitting with my little plastic cup of sliced turkey and carrot sticks. Yeh, I was really pretty cool at the cafeteria table. But I dealt.
And so is she. After surfing the blogosphere with her mom, they found that there were no blogs written by teens living a gluten-free life. She thought that it would be a great idea to connect with the teen Celiac community, and maybe even help them cope with tips, recipes and basically a place to go where other people understood.
Take a jump over to her blog, myceliac, a teenager’s gluten-free life. I guarantee you will be inspired.
Glass half full, at its finest.
i could cry but i don't have time 
Sharing this with my celiac friends.
Okay! Thank you.
thanks for sharing your/her inspirational story. I was thinking negatively & wasting good energy on ‘stupid’ stuff while I was preparing to go off to work & paused to check my computer before I left for the day. *Good story with a great message. I will hold onto those words of encouragement. I need them myself. Take care dear friend – THANK YOU