Born on a tropical island, I grew with the reefs, tasted the sand and took my first steps at the leisurely pace of island life.

An early communicator, I was a chatty and inquisitive child questioning my world and the people in it. Craving nightly storytime and acting out scenes from Land Before Time with army-green plastic Brontosaurus figurines.

A head injury at age seven, altered the way I would consume stories as I re-learnt to read and write, whilst flashing lights in my vision obscured my favourite book pages.  

From my first dance class at the age of six, until the last at twenty, this art was my happy place. My foundation for friendship and first experience connecting with an audience through storytelling. I embodied each piece of music, until my muscles could no longer sustain the movement.

In a childhood patch-worked with variable resources, my tightly bonded neurodivergent siblings, mum and I understood that home was not a simply a place, rather a feeling of comfort and security. We learned the value and complexity in holding hope and worry simultaneously, whilst juggling life on the poverty line. 

I began adulthood with a distinct sense of freedom and vision for my twenties. Filled with all the hallmarks of this distinct decade; a fulfilling career in the medical field, international travel, trying new hobbies and curating relationships.

I was learning to live out of home, taking spontaneous road trips, assisting in the delivery of new life as a midwifery student and settled into a long-term partnership. I felt I had particular traits to offer the world and had found my place in pockets within. 

As my early twenties ensued my rare neuromuscular disease progressed and its impact became impossible to ignore. Resulting in a premature ending to a yearned for career. My university education ironically proved advantageous in the next role I was to play in the medical system, as a rare disease patient, assured my condition would "reveal itself in time".   

For the better part of a decade we searched for answers, treatments, recovery, rehabilitation or clarity; the traditional story arcs we hear of. Opportunities and choices ordinarily abundant as a young adult, became restricted whilst living in 'survival mode'. I felt removed from the pace of life, lonely and isolated in the rarity of my experience. 

We came to understand my condition is a snowflake, no two people are the same. I live with two rare neuromuscular conditions, Periodic Paralysis and Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome - a connection issue between my nerves and muscles, resulting in a body that weakens and at times paralyses with movement.

The global pandemic reached us during my first period of stability and safety; in body, in home and as a fur-mum of the most loving cavalier pups. A year prior, you would have found me in temporary, emergency housing, experiencing up to 8 hours of paralysis, daily.

 As a consequence of enforced lockdowns, an opportunity arose through the global embrace of technology; enhancing virtual communication, access to care, offering fresh learning and work possibilities. A new trajectory appeared, illuminated by my circumstances and the advocates/artists already paving the path before me. Informed, but not defined by my disability.

I was listening to countless podcasts, to feel a part of the locked down world and heard the voice of one esteemed advocate, Anja Christoffersen, who founded an agency linking those with disabled and chronic illness lived-experience, to the opportunities where our unique knowledge and perspectives were valued. I joined that month and this was the beginning of my advocacy, that transcended just myself.

I began writing in short increments, small fragments … poems, when my vocal capacity, eye function and mobility were declining.

Scrolling through social media one day, I came across an online short course in poetry for young people, feeling unprepared and out of my depth, I took a leap and joined.

Over the next couple of years, the influence of my writing mentors would shift the way I played with language. Woken to the way I could search and tap into resources and later combine artistic mediums. This continues to impact the way I emote, connect and grow.

Creating has been cathartic and empowering, as I seek to centre missed narratives and challenge perspectives through different avenues of storytelling; advocacy, writing, art, film, modelling and acting.

The accessibility of my work is always considered from conception. As I seek to place my work in spaces typically not amplifying disabled voices, broadening perspectives and contributing to the authentic representation of disabled people in media. 

Rarely does a story not entail a change in trajectory. Turning points are crucial moments of discovery, disclosure, obstacle or choice. Mine is no different. Reminiscent of the 'choose your own adventure' books that I adored as a child.