Mickey

“A piece of plastic does not affect your worth or beauty! You are everything that you were before!”

Mickey was a pretty healthy kid growing up. She had some health issues, but nothing crazy.  She was active, running around and playing, as well as being a dancer and figure skater. As she entered her teenage years, her joints worsened and she received an EDS diagnosis at 14.  Her endocrine issues also led to very low blood sugar and other blood sugar issues.

Over the next few years, life changed a lot, with other diagnoses including POTS, adrenal deficiency, and gastroparesis. Mickey’s stomach issues became worse in 2016. She was having trouble eating and went through multiple tests to discover that she had significant gastroparesis. She modified her diet and went on medication. While those changes helped for a little while, it began to get worse and worse, to the point that she needed a feeding tube in July of 2017. 

Shortly after, Mickey discovered the FreeArm and now she loves to attach her FreeArm to her headboard or on her wheelchair. Mickey loves that she can use it anywhere, including the RV on her adventures! She uses it for both her IV fluids and her continuous feeds. 

Because of Mickey’s endocrine and blood sugar issues, Mickey is on continuous feeds. She loves using the FreeArm while she’s sleeping because her bag doesn’t tip over or cause any kinks in the tube, setting off the pump alarm. The FreeArm also makes her bags much easier to access, and of course, she no longer trips over the IV pole at night! Mickey loves telling others about about the FreeArm. Check out her FreeArm video on YouTube with over 21K views!

Mickey loves being outside and being with her family and friends. She is a people person, so that plays into all aspects of her life, including social media and connecting with people. Mickey loves animals! She has a dog and 5 fish and loves to learn, either at school or reading about new things. She’s attending school to become an LPN and eventually wants to get her BSN and become a Registered Nurse, then become a Nurse Practitioner. She wants to have that direct connection with patients, possibly in radiology with kids. She would love to work at the hospital that she spent a lot of time at as a kid, hoping to both rewrite the story for herself and also help kids not have the same traumatizing experiences that she had. She wants to be the nurse that she wished she had at certain points in her journey.

Mickey told us, “Getting a tube is a drastic change for anyone, no matter the age. It really does disrupt life and takes away that very normal act of eating to survive. It can also cause body image issues.” Which it did for Mickey when she first got her NJ tube. “It was very obvious and people would stare. It is sometimes very difficult to see yourself with a tube. It’s especially hard to look down at your stomach and see a body that you definitely did not envision.” Mickey remembers being wheeled to the operating room to get her tube placed and looking down her gown to take in the last look at her tubeless belly. She still remembers what that looked like and everything about that moment. She knows that her stomach will never look the same again, even if she gets the tube removed; however, she knows that it is a piece of her and helps to keep her going and keep her alive, so she appreciates it. 

Mickey recognizes that it is hard to be confident as a young adult in general, but even harder when you might look a little different or have some extra things. “We are a lot more critical of ourselves than we are of other people. You wouldn’t look at someone else and say they are not beautiful because of a feeding tube or difference, why would you say that to yourself?”  She has worked on kindness and patience with herself for a long time, and she is still working on it. “It is a process to love yourself with a feeding tube, but remember that you are beautiful and you are worthy. You are everything that you were before and that should be appreciated and not looked down upon! Not only just the adjustment of having and seeing the tube is difficult, but also learning all the care and upkeep of the tube is a lot to learn and can be overwhelming. Give yourself some patience as you get started, it takes time!  It helps to have other people walk you through it. Find someone with a tube to ask questions.” Mickey found it much easier to be able to ask someone their experience, tips, and tricks, and also, finding essential tools and clothing. The community that she has built through her YouTube page does this first hand. Check out Mickey’s Favorite Feeding Tube Products video with almost 30K views!

One of Mickey’s favorite things is to go up to kids when she notices that they have braces or some type of difference similar to her and celebrate that they have that in common. She wants to make sure that kids realize that they are perfect and beautiful and that the opinions of others do not define them! She wants to instill that confidence and self love in the kids she meets!

Thank you Mickey for sharing your story with us and for ALL that you do to spread love and inclusion to others!

You can follow Mickey and her adventures on her Instagram page and YouTube channel.