*InternationalMrsWashington

There’s definitely an intersection between the two and times when I deeply feel the connection and need for awareness in both realms. MCS will always come first for me, its my life’s work and its my every day reality. My husband was diagnosed in 2007 and it changed our lives forever.

 

So many folks in the canary community are fighting internal battles. It’s a diagnosis that often leads to mental health issues, and understandably so. Not only do the physical mechanisms in the body that cause MCS symptoms also cause all kinds of imbalances, nutrient deficiencies and damaged detoxification pathways in the body and brain, but living with chronic illness itself takes a toll. The suicide rate among people with MCS is high. Some countries are now approving medically assisted suicide for MCS patients who apply for it, and when I hear stories . . . it breaks my heart in a million pieces. 

 

Ever since I stepped up to become a public facing advocate for the chemically sensitive, awareness has been my number one focus. There are other areas of this larger problem to be tackled for sure, housing, for one, and public access and accommodation for another. But I’ve chosen to stick mainly to trying to bring awareness – because I still have those every day conversations where I explain what it is that my husband has and why he’s not at this or that event with me, and I hear “Wow, I’ve never heard of that!” If even one person still has no idea what MCS is, my work is not done. Of course, I hear a lot more often now “Oh yah, I have an allergy to fabric softener,” or Oh, my sister has that!” It’s becoming so much more common for everyone to know someone or know of someone close to them who has experienced some level of chemical sensitivity – and yet, still not have heard the term multiple chemical sensitivities.

 

I've learned over the years of being in a marriage with someone who has a chronic illness, just how much I can handle and keep persevering. I know that I am strong. I know that I've been made so by being broken and picking the pieces back up and gluing them back together because I had to, because he needed me, because I wouldn't give up. I've learned to live with a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. I know, though, that I need to safeguard my own mental health. I have to build in practices that protect it. Pageants are one of those practices for me. Being in a pageant is my little escape for a few days a year, its my little oasis of glamour and sparkles and communion with like minded, powerful women. 

 

The Still She Rose Initiative is leading a revolutionary movement in the pageant industry, to ensure that we as women, who ALWAYS put everyone else ahead of ourselves, have the tools and the support to safeguard our own precious mental health. Please join me in supporting them in this fundraiser for Metal Health Awareness Month. Your donation COULD help earn me an automatic spot in the top 10 at the International Ms Pageant this summer in Orlando, Florida. 

 

Thank you for supporting Mental Health Awareness and my continued efforts.