I Am Allergic To Water

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Hey, I'm Victoria and I was only 14 when my whole life changed. It was a regular morning and I was taking a shower before school, like I always did.
After I was done, I used a towel to dry myself. That’s when I noticed that I was completely covered in hives.

At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal, but the hives got bigger and my whole skin started to burn and itch.

The pain got so bad that my mom drove me to the hospital. Unfortunately, the doctors had no idea what was wrong with me.

Finally, after 3 days inside the hospital, they diagnosed me with “Aquagenic Urticaria” which is a fancy way of saying “water allergy”.

Technically, it’s not an allergy, but then again, no one really knows what it is.

And because only 1 in 200 million people have it, there aren’t any scientists trying to find a cure. It really sucks.

When I got my diagnosis, I became seriously depressed because I thought my life was over. I mean, what boy would ever wanna date a girl that doesn’t take showers?

I wanted to cry but I couldn't because even my own tears cause rashes on my face. Life felt so unfair.

But when my mom saw how I was feeling, she bought me a book called “Life Without Limits” by Nick Vujicic. He was born without legs and arms, yet he managed to create an extraordinary life for himself.

Reading his story encouraged me to stop complaining about things I can't change and instead to focus on things that are in my control.

Like… I always dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player, but since I’m allergic to my own sweat, I had to give up on that dream.
But instead of complaining how unfair the world is, I just chose a new career. Now I wanna become a doctor to help other people, maybe even find a cure for an unusual condition like mine.

And I’m kinda lucky, because where I live it always rains. This means that most of the time, I can’t leave my house, so I have plenty of time to study.

Oh, and in case you are wondering how I keep myself clean, I actually can take 1 cold shower once a week. Yeah, afterwards I’m covered in hives and rashes for the rest of the day, but at least I’m clean.

So, you don’t need to feel sorry for me. Because overall, I’m doing pretty fine and there are plenty of people who have it much worse than me.
I just wanted to share my story and thank you for listening.

Water