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Spoonie Essentials: Everyday Magic
"This is not a game. This is my real life."
Before her life-changing diagnosis, Brittani lived a life full of competing priorities. Politics, athletics, school and everything in-between kept Brittani at a non-stop pace until all was brought to a screeching halt with chronic illness. The All-American Athlete spent three months in the hospital fighting to survive and beat the odds, but that struggle was just the beginning of a new kind of existence for the Spoonie.
What is a Spoonie, you may ask? A Spoonie is anyone who suffers from chronic illness, in reference to Christine Miserandino's Spoon Theory (which you can read more about here). Diagnosed with Lupus, Crohn's Disease, Dress Syndrome, a survivor of colon cancer who also manages multiple food allergies, Brittani is, herself, a Spoonie. After looking death in the eyes and reclaiming her ability to walk, something doctors told her would be impossible, she's re-entered the world with a brilliant, defining purpose. "My life changed. I want to help others," she says. To that end, she created the Spoonie Essentials Box, a subscription box designed to be a complete care package for fellow Spoonies.
When she spent those earth-shaking three months in the hospital, Brittani says the support she received from loved one was critical to building up the inner strength that helped her persevere. "It changed the way I viewed how I was going to get through," she says. Unfortunately, some of the gifts she received were less practical than she would have liked. "Some care packages were legitimately stupid," laughs Brittani. Flowers now only remind her of the hospital, and she's lost her passion for cosmetics, but what she's discovered is more beautiful than the things she once considered important. "I'm a completely different person. I'm more concerned with what your heart looks like," she says.
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