My First HA Conference

      In 2012 I went to my very first Hydrocephalus Conference and it was absolutely great! The Hydrocephalus Association has been having conferences for years, but I had never gone. It was definitely something I should've done earlier, considering I was 15 when I went and that conference was the FIRST TIME I had met ANYONE with Hydrocephalus.

Anyone!!

          It was really nice to not have to tell my whole life story just to explain a little story that I wanted to tell in the first place. Since most people don't know I have Hydrocephalus, or know what it is or how it affects me...I usually have to explain all that before I can simply answer something like, "So why don't you play Hockey like your brother?"  So every 5 minute story turns into a 15-minute one! (And usually gets off-topic). It was just amazing to be with people who understood me - who knew why I answered something a certain way, with no explanation. Unlike most other conversations, I didn't get strange looks or comments or anything! Everyone just understood me, and accepted me, for me.

    There were a lot of different classes about different topics. The teens went to a couple, but then our parents realized it would be better if they went to the classes and us kids just went and hung out in the lobby. I met a lot of kids and we all still keep in touch!

        The conference was in D.C so we had an Advocacy Day where we had to go to the Capitol to talk to our elected officials. My mom and I didn’t know until 2 hours before that we were actually the ones from Texas who were going to talk to Michael Burgess, our State Representative. We didn’t have anything prepared, so we prepared it on the bus ride over! We probably sounded so dorky! But at least we were able to talk to some Texas politicians about Hydrocephalus. And, I got a photo taken with Michael Burgess and he gave me a special coin.

       Another really cool thing about the conference was Mark Kelly was a guest speaker. If you don't recognize the name, he is the astronaut who is married to Gabbie Giffords. After she was shot, she ended up getting a shunt. 

The next conference is this summer in Portland! I can't wait!