Transcript
My name is Josiah Friesen and I live in Hamilton, Ontario.
I was recently diagnosed with a primary immunodeficiency called polysaccharide antibody deficiency. While this is a more mild diagnosis, I was diagnosed in December of this last year.
For the last 17 years of my life, or my entire life, I have been sick all the time and I didn’t know why. At the start of this summer, I was hospitalized for a week and I was taken out of my summer camp job and I couldn’t work there for a month. I spent the entire fall being followed by about nine specialists and I never knew why I was sick and no one fully knew what was wrong with me. Luckily, an amazing doctor ran some special tests and found that I had a primary immunodeficiency, which has changed my life.
After starting treatment, I told my mom I didn’t even know that this is what a normal person felt like because I didn’t understand that most people wake up and feel fine. Even though there’s still many days where I don’t feel great, I’ve definitely seen a lot of improvement.
I’m trying to make change even in my school, trying to do fundraisers to raise awareness for stuff like plasma donation, and just the need to raise awareness for our primary immunodeficiency so that more people can get their diagnosis that they need.