CLaudia

“My relationship with my body has been a complicated one...

 

At three and a half, I was diagnosed with AML leukemia. After three rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, the cancer was gone — but the transplant caused graft-versus-host disease, leading to scleroderma. It’s left lasting damage to my skin, organs, and joints.

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I spent nine years in hospital. Over 500 surgeries, countless transfusions, medications, skin grafts, and procedures later — I’m still here. I now use a wheelchair full-time and continue to face ongoing health challenges.

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For long, I felt disconnected from my body, like it wasn’t really mine. So much was done to it, not by it.

When I look at myself, I see the scars, the traumas, the survival. There’s grief there — for the things I’ve missed, the experiences I never got to have, the sense of falling behind.

But there’s also deep gratitude. My body has endured more than I ever thought possible.

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This year, I started pole dancing with my incredible instructor, Amy — and it’s changed everything.

 

For the first time, I’m learning what my body can do instead of what it can’t.

I can be silly, I can be sassy, I can be strong. Pole has helped me feel a little more at home in my body. It’s helped me rediscover joy, movement, and self-expression. While my body has been through so much, it’s also survived through so much. And that’s something I’ll never stop being proud of.”

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