Making Every Day Count: Mason's Story

想象一下，你19岁，在上大学，和你高中最好的朋友住在一起. Your whole life is ahead of you. You should be enjoying it. 而不是, you're suddenly suffering unimaginable anxiety.

那就是我.

2008年，我以优异的成绩从达拉斯南湖卡罗尔高中毕业. After attending Tarrant County Community College, I transferred to the University of North 德州, where I majored in New Media Art, with a focus on video game design. 在我的业余时间, I played World of Warcraft; the majority of my friends were online, 这对我来说没问题吗.

2009年7月, 当时我正准备进入北德克萨斯大学的第一个学期, I started to feel really anxious. 我开始担心一些小事:我怎样才能准时上课? How was I going to pay for textbooks? How was I going to find a job? Some of this made sense: Among other things, I'm not a great artist and my major required a lot of art classes. But the anxiety was so bad, I ended up staying awake for 10 days straight.

神秘的疾病
I needed to know what was going on. 我去看了精神科医生，他诊断我患有广泛性焦虑症，并给我开了药. The medication didn't make a difference, so I went to the emergency room, where another doctor gave me a CAT scan. 他没有发现任何问题，所以他开了另一种药，同样没有效果. Then I went to another psychiatrist.

一个月过去了, and I started to have new symptoms, including a loss of balance and a tendency to drool a lot. 我的新精神科医生建议我去看神经科医生，神经科医生又要求我做核磁共振. I had two, which showed evidence of prior strokes and new strokes. That brought me to the hospital for several days and still more tests. 一路走来，我们发现我生来心里就有一个洞，而且从来没有合上过.

到现在为止, 现在是2009年10月, 我的医生得出了一个结论:他告诉我妈妈，这些症状表明我一直在吸油漆. 我没有，但我妈妈打电话给我的朋友，直截了当地问我是否吸毒. 他们的回答是:“不可能! 梅森不吸毒!"

不放弃, 我的家人做了一些调查，发现最适合我的医院是达拉斯的德克萨斯大学医院. 我被转移到那里，在重症监护室呆了四天，然后他们排除了中风的可能性，并确定我的问题是神经系统的.

最后，医院里的一个学生把这一切拼凑在一起:我得了威尔逊氏病. It's a rare genetic disease—only one in 30,000 people have it—so it's not something you normally get tested for. In fact, after I was diagnosed, over a hundred doctors came to see me!

People with Wilson's disease aren't able to process copper. 而不是, the body stores it in the brain, 肝, 和肾脏, causing stroke-like symptoms, cirrhosis of the 肝 and other issues, including anxiety and depression.

In other words, all the weird, seemingly-unrelated symptoms I'd showed.

A Diagnosis—and a Difficult Treatment
威尔逊氏病通常发生在13到19岁之间, and it usually starts with 肝 problems. In my case, it struck my brain first.

So now I had a diagnosis and a treatment plan. 但在我好转之前，治疗会让我感觉更糟! 我接受了螯合治疗，将铜与一种药物结合，使其离开血液. 不幸的是, while it's leaving the body, 铜会对受影响的器官造成更大的损害，包括大脑.

在接下来的两年里，我的身体每况愈下，甚至失去了走路和说话的能力. 我妈妈继续在网上做研究，发现了另一种看起来很有希望的药物. That's when things started to change for the better. 今天，我服用醋酸锌来控制我的疾病，防止铜在我体内储存.

My mom and dad were incredibly supportive through all of this. 在诊断期间，我有很高的社交焦虑，我把所有的朋友都赶走了. The only person I wanted to be around was my mom; she was a huge support system for me. Once my treatment was complete, all the anxiety and depression disappeared.

快速成长
After my treatment, I entered a facility that provides brain rehab services. I had to relearn how to walk and talk. When I was discharged from rehab in early 2011, 我就像一个被困在成年人身体里的四岁孩子:我恢复了很多运动技能, but didn't remember how to behave socially. I ended up moving into a group home for people with disabilities, 在那里我可以迈出下一步，学习如何表现得像个成年人.

It wasn't an easy process. 当我在教养之家的时候，我因为被欺负而出现了一些行为问题. I ended up getting into a fistfight and got kicked out. My case manager at the Rehab facility referred me to My Possibilities, a continuing education program for adults with cognitive disabilities, and that's when things really started to change for the better.

I joined My Possibilities in June 2012. 这是一个为有智力和发育障碍的成年人提供全天继续教育的非营利组织. Because of the confidence, ambition and a sense of purpose that the program provided, 在短短一年半的时间里，我的认知能力就从四年级的水平恢复到了大学的水平.

就长期目标而言, 我告诉“我的可能性”的工作人员，我想成为一名教师助理, and they created a program for me. I started in the program part-time, and then volunteered in the afternoon. Eventually, I was hired on as part-time staff; I worked there for seven years.

In 2018, 我以优异的成绩从科林县社区学院毕业，获得了副学士学位, and also earned an online IT certificate. I plan to continue my education and experiences so I can, 反过来, make contributions to those who are sometimes forgotten by society.

Another Hurdle, Another Opportunity
当COVID-19袭来时, I lost my job at My Possibilities, 但一位同事建议我和德克萨斯州劳动力委员会一起找工作. Through TWC and My Possibilities, I was able to find a job at 12bet官方, where I now work as a full-time Transaction Specialist, handling credit card transactions. 我每年还会在创伤性脑损伤幸存者营地担任三次志愿者顾问.

追逐 is the first company that ever gave me a chance at working full time. 没人想过像我这样的人会全职工作，但蔡斯给了我这个机会.

I never noticed a disabled person before I became one. I never interacted with them, one on one. I didn't advocate for them, or even see them as equals. It was only after I became disabled that I started to see them. 他们想要和我们一样的东西:朋友，关系，体验生活. I feel like I'm more judged as a disabled person. 当你见到我的时候，很明显我是残疾的，但我内心并不觉得自己残疾. 我还是梅森.

We want to be included, loved, and to be special to others. 我珍惜每一天，尽我所能确保我身边的人得到我所得到的每一个机会，这样他们就能充分发挥自己的潜力.

了解我们如何努力 provide the best support and environment for people with disabilities at 12bet官方.

本文可能包含有关医学测试和治疗的一般信息. The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such. 内容不打算作为专业建议，诊断或治疗的替代品. 如果你对自己的状况有任何疑问，一定要寻求心理健康专家或其他合格的健康提供者的建议.