Even though Imgur is a place where users share and enjoy the best images on the Internet — which usually include hilarious memes or cool Minecraft creations — occasionally, something inspirational becomes viral, and may even change someone's life.
That is exactly what happened to this young woman. After battling with poor health for years, Imgur user Cheyenne Rose finally has some answers to her mysterious illness — and she has the online community to thank for helping her get a diagnosis.
Five months ago, Rose shared her story about how her medical problems kept coming in the way of her reaching her dream to become a professional dancer. The post, titled "The Story of a Broken Dancer," featured photos of Rose throughout the years, with some text that highlighted the obstacles she faced over the years.
"When I was little, all I wanted in the world was to be a dancer," she wrote. However, it seemed that she would first have to stay out of the hospital in order to reach the stage.
Her problems started when she was 12 years old after she broke her arm in a bike accident. While this may seem like a normal occurrence for any typical kid, Rose found herself breaking and dislocating limbs on the regular. This is because she grew so fast, already reaching 5-10 by the time she was 13, and she said that her body didn't develop properly.
Despite her body needing time to catch up with her growth spurt, Rose continued to dance five hours a day for six days a week. While dedicated, her joints became loose and bones fragile. It seemed that the simplest moves would leave her with injuries, which included a dislocated shoulder and hips and broken ankles and toes.
Then, when she was 16, things took a toll for the worst.
"I was dancing, and all I can remember is feeling like I had been shot in my right hip, my body seizing up in pain, and collapsing," Rose recalled. "I couldn't walk, I could barely sit, the only thing that would relieve (most) of my pain was lying down, taking any and all pressure off of my hip joints."
This injury meant Rose now needed to be in a wheelchair, which was devastating for the dancer who was born to move.
After one year in that wheelchair, multiple hospital visits, two hip surgeries and lots of recovery afterward, Rose was able to dance again after three years.
Just when she thought her dancing days were back for good, she began suffering from back pain, headaches, would lose feeling in her limbs and would even black out.
After years of suffering from some mysterious disease, no neurologist, neurosurgeon, spinal specialist and so on was able to give Rose a diagnosis.
However, Imgur could.
After the post made Imgur's front page, many people commented on it, offering their own medical advice. Rose noticed that the genetic disorder "Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Hyper Mobility Type III" kept coming up. It was worth looking into.
EDS is the name for a group of disorders that affects the skin, joints and blood vessels. Those with EDS have extremely flexible joints that are easy to dislocate.
Rose decided to get testing done, and was officially given the diagnosis of EDS. Unfortunately, there is no cure.
"It's something that I'm going to have to live with my entire life, but thanks to you crazy people, I finally have a diagnosis," she wrote.
However, the dancer is happy that she finally knows what has been behind her strange medical mystery.
"Thank you, Imgur, from the bottom of my heart, you have helped me find closure in one part of my life," she added.
Well done, Internet.
Source: Imgur
