A call for awareness, hope

May is NF and MH Awareness Month.

NF stands for Neurofibromatosis. NF is a group of genetic disorders that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body. NF can lead to blindness, deafness, bone abnormalities, disfigurement, learning challenges, disabling pain or cancer. Anyone can be born with it and it affects everyone differently.

I have written this letter for more than 20 years. My daughter, Mia, has had NF 1 since she was a baby. She has grown into a beautiful young woman, who just celebrated her second year of marriage. She is the most amazing, courageous person that I know. She has been faced with so many challenges in her young lifetime, yet you would never know. NF has reared its ugly head in many ways throughout her life, but again, she has taken every challenge head-on and always with such grace. In each stage of her life, while facing new challenges with her disorder, we will always walk right by her side. It is our mission to bring awareness, in the hope that a cure will be found someday soon.

May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health is difficult to understand, but it is real. It affects so many beautiful souls. Please remember to always be kind! It takes very little effort and is very necessary.

To learn more about NF, please visit ctf.org. To learn more about suicide prevention, please visit afsp.org.

MICHELLE SCHWETTMAN, Scott City