So Close to Death Yet So Far Away

Growing up Derek was a good student and athlete in Reading, Pennsylvania. His future looked bright. After waking up from a nap during his shift as a lifeguard at 17 years old, everything changed. After months of not feeling right and several doctors' visits, it was determined that Derek was beginning to suffer from a dysautonomia disorder called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). POTS, sometimes referred to as an invisible illness, is a very unknown yet destabilizing and bizarre illness. Derek's next 8 years became a health roller coaster ride amid remission, relapses, emergency room and doctors' visits, and several different medications. Despite all this, Derek managed to keep his illness a secret from almost everyone in fear of being judged and not understood. In October of 2016, Derek worked as an assistant branch manager at a local rental car office. While working one day, he collapsed inside a body shop during a sales call and woke up in an ambulance being transported to the hospital. After this life changing incident, Derek decided enough was enough and became determined to make a major change. Besides pursuing new careers, Derek found a passion to let the truth out about suffering from a dysautonomia disorder. In his mind it was now time to bring awareness. In this book, you will find the story of Derek's battle with dysautonomia, as well as interviews with mothers of children with dysautonomia, doctors' opinions on the illness, and stories of many others suffering from dysautonomia. You will begin to see life from the eyes of a person suffering from an invisible illness. Although over one million people worldwide have been diagnosed with dysautonomia, there is still little known about POTS. What is known by those who have it, is at times, they feel like they are so close to dying, yet only to be told they were so far away.