Up on my blog, I now have part II of ‘New Beginnings—No Turning Back’, with Author of Allergic to Life: My Battle for Courage, Survival and Hope, Kathryn Treat up on my blog. (It took me a whole year to complete part I and another whole year for part II. And part III is in the works. Life’s a struggle. To write and edit you need a functioning brain and body. Ha, and I want to do long-form Journalism? Yes, my heart is still set on it.). But before you see Part II, and I hope you’ve already read Part I, you have to see this (all my MCS sisters and brothers who’ve seen it so far have freaked out; even so much as to cry tears of joy. And it’s possibly my most shared Facebook video yet!) It’s long over due here on the Labyrinth, so with out further waffle…
More from Rachel Meeks from Do I Look Sick:
My voice sounds a little weird because I have a cold at the moment. Please consider making your own little #pour1out4MCS video – it’s easy, fun, and raises awareness for a really good cause. Link to your videos in the comments – who knows? I may turn this into a raffle if enough people jump on board.
Miss you, Kathryn.
We miss her too, Rachel. It’s been a whole year since you made this bloody awesome YouTube clip that had me crying tears of gratitude, joy, hope and sadness all at once.
And, congratulations on your new addition to the family from all of us here at the Labyrinth. I can see that baby of yours already has the best start in life because [Miche begins singing in her best Soprano Voice:] you ditched your fragrance products for a great cause. (Good news, dear readers: Fragrance irritant chemicals, air-borne phthalates and synthetic musks won’t be around this lil’ Junior!)
(For those of you who can’t watch the video possibly due to EHS, can only be on your computer for short bursts or can’t handle the flickering of the screen, here is a short summary: Rachel Meeks and Kathryn Treat, author of the already-mentioned book, Allergic to Life: My Battle for Courage, Survival and Hope, met up in the blogosphere, becoming friends, supporting one another, and each teaching the other a little about living with chronic illness. Meeks has endometriosis, an incurable chronic pain condition, IBS, a digestive illness, and PCOS, which causes irregular periods and infertility.
After hiding her illness she discovered that she “began to get upset at the mistreatment of people with illness. I realized the only way I could help was to speak out, make some noise, wear my heart on my sleeve, and confess that I am not well.
“If you have an invisible illness, know that you’re not alone. If you don’t, know that one (or more) of your friends probably does.
“The more we can educate people, the easier it will be to live with invisible illness.”
During the video, in tribute to the passing of our dear Kathryn Treat, Meeks pours out a bottle of perfume into the dirt in a park, promising to eradicate fragrances from her life in honour of the sage life lessons she learned from her friendship with Treat.
The moral of this video: Meeks is smart enough to recognise that Treat getting sick like that from mould, fragrance chemicals and many others, could just as easily happen to her or someone she loves. Just like it could happen, or may have already happened to you!)
Or dear friend, blogger mate, family member, author, mother, grandmother, our Kathryn would be so happy if she could watch this clip. If I were religious, I’d imagine her watching this video, delighted; but, do you know she was the type of woman, brave and strong, who went through life expecting people to be compassionate, expecting others to do the right thing; and she carried a wiseness about her, as if to say: “This does not surprise me. Of course people are capable of great compassion.” Or something like that…
And you, Rachel, and all the beautiful shiny people who give up fragrance for the sake of other people’s health, rather than your own, need to know how valuable you truly are. The lives of people, like myself, who have health conditions which are related to or impacted on by chemical sensitivities would have life so easy if all the humans who cross our paths could be as compassionate and respectful as what you have. Not everyone recognises our basic human need and right to breath just plain oxygen; and when asked, some people, who we like to call ‘Obsessive Fragrance Wearers‘, well they use even more perfume, aftershave [insert narcissistic assholes psychopath’s chemical-irritant based personal-care product of choice here] …
It’s people like you who can help spread the compassionate message, leading by example, therefore, making the world a better place.
Thank you <3
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More
‘Do I Look Sick’s’ Interview: Allergic to Life for Real ~ Kathryn Treat
On Amazon: Allergic to Life: My Battle for Courage, Survival and Hope
Kathryn Treat’s Blog: allergictolifemybattle
Kathryn Treat’s Blog Post: Book Blog Tour: Day 11
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity WordPress: Obsessive Fragrance Wearers
Note: I will be installing FaceBook comments plugin so these posts are easier to comment on and share
This is really sweet. I can’t believe someone did this just after meeting someone else with chemical allergies… There’s hope for humankind afterall.
Of course there is. We are a compassionate species xx
What set me off was spray paints. I was 40 that I realized they were starting to giving me trouble. It took me 5 years to get them out of my life.
Yes, good ‘ol solvents! I had solvent exposure for over 20 years via nail polish, glue for false nails, nail polish… and all the times I spilt nail polish remover over onto my carpet, only to soak it up with tissues. People just wouldn’t think this could happen–until it happens to them!
is there a name for your condition?
I’ve only just discovered Toxic encephalopathy, which as someone who suffers with it told me, can be caused by workplace exposure to solvents (this is happened in the US). So that’s why I asked if your condition has a name…