Heidi Gage is a 20 year old woman who has a life of many complications. From an early age it was apparent that Heidi was not a normal child, she could put her finger to the back of her hand and dislocate the shoulders, it was her own superpower. Now her superpower is more formally called EDS (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). EDS allows her to do all sorts of cool tricks with her body.

However, as she got older it became less fun and more painful. Now, her shoulders are constantly going in and out of socket as well as her hips. EDS can make your joints loose and your skin thin and easy to bruise. It also can weaken blood vessels and organs. Depending on how fast Heidi’s EDS progresses, she may not live a full life. Though the thought if dying young is scary, Heidi has never given up and continues to live her life.

Another of her life challenges has been a rocky love life. A couple of months ago, Heidi and her long term boyfriend broke up because he decided that he was a woman and did not want to keep living as a man. He forced her to choose between supporting him or staying true to her sexuality. Heidi was devastated; she never wanted to break up with him, she loved him. Through this breakup, Heidi has done some self discovery about who she is. A month after their break up, he came back begging for forgiveness and trying to convince her to get back together with him. Heidi turned him down because she realized that their relationship was limiting for both of them.

Despite this difficult relationship, things seem to be looking up. A couple of weeks ago, Heidi and I were talking about this family we knew from living in Syracuse. She was talking about how much she liked them, especially their oldest son Talmage. Low and behold, that night, Talmage texted her and asked her out on a date for that Saturday. She went on the date and had lots of fun. As of last night, they have gone on 4 dates and are planning of going on more. Though Heidi may not live a very long life, she is going to do her best to live it to the fullest no matter what. Heidi encourages everyone to live their lives the best they can because tomorrow is uncertain.