reBlog from Joanne Ryder: You Don’t Look Sick - Poem

I found this fascinating quote today:



You don’t look sick, they told her propped up in her hospital bed. Would she mind having her photo taken for their public relations campaign? She smiled and they photographed a model patient in the endocrine ward. She didn’t have a humpback, or thickened skin, tight and dark, or a head larger than one should be. She looked just like you or me or anyone visiting from the outside. The doctors thought her parathyroid gland might be overactive or perhaps underactive. That could explain her symptoms: tiredness, aching joints, the times I came home from school and found her crying, lying in bed. But in her photo, I see her smiling; You don’t look sick, Mom, but looks are deceiving and she knew better.Joanne Ryder, You Don’t Look Sick - Poem, Aug 2009



You should read the whole article.

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