Life in the Grey – a Column by Bailey Anne Vincent

breaking up, doctor mistakes, mask, body image, walk, pre-existing condition, perspective, slowing down

Bailey is a Deaf 34-year-old with atypical cystic fibrosis. She has been a journalist, columnist, and novelist for almost two decades, but is also an altruist, feminist and narcissist who likes to ask for “fatty sushi” that’s not on the menu (it’s cream cheese, egg and avocado, respectively). She is artistic director of the body-positive dance company Company 360 in Virginia, as well as a professional dancer, choreographer, and homeschooling mother of two girls. As a formally misdiagnosed mutant, she hopes to raise awareness of atypical CFTR disease and help anyone who isn’t genetically in the black or white feel less alone. For more on her activism or art, please see www.catchingbreaths.org.

Medicine Is Splitting Me into Pieces

I am not a whole and complete person. All you have to do is look at my medical chart to know that this is a fact. I have a different doctor for every part of me. I am not an “I” or a “me” — I am the parts of…

I Need Help Asking for Help

Asking for help. It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? In the dance world, however, it’s almost impossible. In the world of healthcare, surprisingly, it’s just as difficult. Years ago, when I was dancing in a small company in Washington, D.C., I expressed worry over a potential injury and asked for…

Diet Tips from a ‘Dying’ Girl

This is going to feel like something you’ve read before. It’s going to say things like, “Don’t assume just because someone is thin they want to be this weight,” and, “It’s so hard being judged for something you can’t control.” All that is true. I have read the skinny-sick posts,…

To the Child I’ll Never Have

“If we had a little girl together, that’s what she’d look like.” He said this to me recently while eating ice cream sundaes with our girls. I slowly turned, a knot in my stomach, scared to look. As I glanced at the little girl in the corner (enjoying time with…

Help! I’m Haunted by Old Photos of My Health

The worst thing about being a writer is being unable to escape old drafts of yourself. Would you believe that the photos you see here were taken on the same day? (See also the Facetune skills, circa 2015, that have since been forgotten.) (Courtesy of Bailey…