At eight years old my life was turned upside down when dermatologists diagnosed me with severe psoriasis. Psoriasis is a noncontagious immune-mediated condition that inflames the skin and joints.

It became an imposing part of my life at that tender age. The personal struggle of living with psoriasis not only came from the physical discomfort of red, itchy, burning, thick, scaly lesions. Anxiety, depression, and hopelessness accompanied the physical discomfort.  

Everyone is touched by physical illness. Whether experienced personally or as a friend, family member, or caregiver, disease and illness are part of the human condition. The coronavirus pandemic started in the United States with the first confirmed case on January 20, 2020. The ensuing spread and devastation revealed just how fragile public health can be in the face of a novel pathogen.  

The increasing prevalence of certain chronic health conditions adds complexity and risk to medically caring for those who contract COVID-19. Indeed, those with chronic disease already bear a great burden without those complicating effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes on their website that “six in ten adults in the US have a chronic disease and four in ten adults have two or more.”^[1] They describe the impact of chronic disease this way: 

Chronic diseases are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. They are also leading drivers of the nation’s $3.8 trillion in annual health care costs.²

 While the financial costs of chronic illness to the healthcare system and individual are great, those numbers do not account for the hidden impacts of these illnesses. Chronic disease and illness often affect one’s spirituality, emotional health, relationships, employment, or even the ability to perform basic daily tasks. 

Each day since my diagnosis I have grappled with having a chronic, severe, stigmatizing skin disease. Indeed, the emotional and spiritual wounds often felt insurmountable to overcome. 

Struggles at Home and Beyond 

I applied messy treatments and sustained painful taunts in those early years living with psoriasis. I especially hated putting liquid coal tar in a petroleum base on my skin overnight. The coal tar treatment smelled like a newly paved road while it stained everything it touched. The greasy feeling on my body made sleeping difficult. To make matters worse, my older brother called me names like “tar baby.” Those hurtful words made hours of treatments each day that much more difficult to bear.