Me vs. Exercise--Lauren

Ever since I was in middle school, I knew I had a passion for running. Going into high school I decided to try out for the cross country team. I remember going to the first practice and being so nervous because I didn’t really know anyone but I knew this was a good opportunity to meet new people and to do what I love the most, running. During summer practice, I quickly realized how different running one mile in middle school was compared to now running three to eight miles everyday. Being new to the sport came with many challenges. When I started I was one of the worst on the team. In all honesty I didn’t completely make the team at first. My coach was kind enough to see my drive for what I worked for and let me keep practicing with the team. I kept working hard all throughout the season. Each week running 30-40 miles took a big toll on my body. With a few minor bumps in the road, and a huge roadblock I had to face, I was able to work through it and exceed all expectations I had for myself. I was able to make Varsity as a freshman and even run in a CIF race. Little did I know that a major roadblock in my life would come in the form of a disease. The condition I have is called exercise induced anaphylaxis which causes my body to shut down whenever I over exert myself during exercising. In other words, I am allergic to exercise. I had no idea what this condition even meant and that I had it. During my

cross season, I started to get these episodes, specifically after my races, where I would get hives all over my legs and arms and my skin felt as if someone poured acid all over me. I didn't know what was happening to my body and neither did my parents. Being totally blindsided about exercise induced anaphylaxis, they started to give me allergy medicine, thinking that I was just having really bad allergic reactions to the plants and trees around me. After a while of not thinking anything of it, I started noticing that I would get my episodes more and more throughout the season and to my surprise they started to get worse. I felt so confused and helpless because I was perfectly fine in the beginning of the season and I was just starting to get better. There was absolutely nothing I could do so I just continued to run and ignored everything that was happening. It was a Tuesday afternoon and my coach had us do a 4 mile tempo run on the track. While I was running I felt my skin starting to burn and itch so I told my coach that I didn't feel good and he told me to stop and to finish with a cool down. As I was starting my cool down, I started to feel my throat closing up and I started to panic and made the mistake of running to the locker room alone to call my mom. I remember getting to my locker and my palms were so sweaty and I could barely open my locker. When I took out my phone, I had to go outside because I had no reception in the locker room. The moment I went outside and called my mom, my vision started to get blurry and my throat was so closed up to the point where I could barely talk. I remember one of my teammates walked by me and asked me if I was okay and in that moment all that I could see was black and my whole body felt limp. I handed her the phone and I fell to the floor. I could hear her explaining to my mom what was happening to me and I just kept telling myself to stay awake because at this moment my whole body was starting to shut down and I didn’t know what would happen to me if I let myself close my eyes. As I was lying

helplessly on the floor I had already lost my vision, I had hives all over my legs and arms that made my skin itch to the point where I would bleed, I started to feel the chills even though my body felt like I was on fire, I was having trouble breathing and my whole face started to swell. After about 5 minutes, my mom arrived and picked me up and my whole body was pale. I wasn't feeling any better so she decided to call the ambulance. Once they got to where we were at, my symptoms had calmed down and they told me that if I passed out on that floor I would have gone into a cardiac arrest and I literally felt my heart drop in my stomach. As they are doing tests on me I just kept thinking to myself, why me? Why did this have to happen to me? After many trips to the doctors and alot more tests, they finally diagnosed me with exercise induced anaphylaxis and told me there is no cure and this could potentially end my life if I continued to run. My mind couldn't process this information and all I could do was cry, the only thing I loved to do was taken away from me in the blink of an eye. My parents made me stop running in fear that over exerting my body to exercise could cause me my life. When they told me I had to stop doing what I loved the most, my heart was torn to pieces. I cried for days. I didn't want to accept that this was happening to me when my life was perfectly fine a few months ago. Going into my sophomore year of highschool, I wasn't doing cross country or track and everyday single day I begged my parents to let me run again. This condition is unpredictable and you have to know your body and how much your body can take. I convinced them to let me run again because I couldn't just give up on something I love so much. They finally let me join the team again my junior year and ever since then I have learned to listen to my body and know the symptoms of the episodes I get. I have to carry an epi-pen with me everyday when I run and I have to take daily allergy medication. It's not easy having this condition in the back of my mind everyday but

i try my hardest to push through it and make the best of everyday.The one thing I loved the most in life was taken away from me and it can happen to anyone. Although this was one of the hardest times in my life, it taught me not to take anything in life for granted because it can be taken away from you in the blink of an eye. Life is precious and it's so important to appreciate the good and the bad times in life. This event also taught me that nothing is impossible and that you can get through any difficult times if you believe in yourself.