A 25-year-old Salvadoran woman, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago. This has led her to show the disease with total naturalness and without losing her smile.
Text - Fernando Serrano
"Camila, the world is not to blame for what happens to you and even less so the people who love you... Let yourself be loved and loved.". This is written in the first article of iamstrongerthanms.comCamila Brodersen, a 25-year-old Salvadoran woman who was diagnosed two years ago with multiple sclerosis. We talked to her about how it is possible to have such vitality in the face of such a disease.
"I wrote that sentence when I was having a hard time accepting having this disease. I was full of negativity, going through a crisis of faith and questioned that anyone would want to support me.. The fact that God had allowed this to happen to me made it impossible for me to think that He could love me or that I could love Him. Since then, it has been a long road to fully understand what this phrase means to me.". But now when Camila reads the sentence again, "in my day to day life it means that we are human, that we will always have defects and make mistakes and that this should not be a reason to isolate ourselves from those who love us, because they love us in spite of it.".
At 23 years old and with her whole life ahead of her, Camila was starting her last semester of her degree when the diagnosis came. "I didn't get a definitive diagnosis until my parents were with me. But before that, I had already had a few months to try to come to terms with the fact that I probably had multiple sclerosis, and to do some research on what could happen to me.". At first he tried to ignore the disease and try to go on with his life as if everything was normal. "I thought it was not possible for people around me to take it well.". But, as time went on, Camila gradually realized that the best solution was to share it, that the people around her were willing to go out of their way to help her. "This type of news is definitely better with company.".
Camila started writing on the website because putting in writing what happens to her helps her a lot. "Also, as I had conversations with different people, I realized that I was not the only one, so publishing what I wrote might change someone's day a little bit.". And her website has paid off, as there have been many people who have written to tell her that she has changed the way they see the difficult situations they find themselves in, that Camila is an example of how to see the bright side of things. When we enter Camila's website or her social networks, we see a young, smiling girl; a normal girl who shares her day to day life, like most people her age. "Just as one day I can share a photo of me on a trip, the next I can share one in the hospital... It's simply my reality, and I think it's good to be able to show that many times you can have a good time in the hospital, even if we are connected to machines and medication.". And neither on the web nor in social networks she does not hide. We see what her life is like. Even if he has a bad day he gets ahead, he is not victimizing; it is surprising the courage and maturity with which he faces the day to day. "Sharing now means that a challenge lies ahead".
"Many times when I'm tired and without energy to face the bad days, I unload a lot on people who have done nothing but support me and been there for me... who are still there, even though sometimes I'm not an easy person to deal with"explains Camila. Her family, her friends are those who support her in her bad moments and with whom she shares the good ones. But above all, this young Salvadoran emphasizes that others have decided to be part of her life, without understanding and without asking. "I believe that those who face a difficult situation out of their own free will, out of affection and love for another person, have more courage than those who face it because it is what it is and because they have no other alternative.".
He knows that as a result of the diagnosis his life has changed, that it is no longer the same. He describes himself as a different person. "I am truly more than convinced that MS has changed me. It has made me put my feet on the ground by realizing that everything changes from one day to the next. Sometimes our plans are not going to turn out the way we want them to, or that it is the end of the world.". She also explains that this has taught her not to take life so seriously and to stop being so cautious, because, as Camila says, "life does not stop or wait for you".
