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2016 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay: “My Life with Tourette Syndrome”

This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2016 Youth Scholarship Award contest. I hope you enjoy it!

Having Tourette Syndrome has impacted my life in so many ways. It has influenced the choices I’ve made and the people I’ve met. My experience with Tourette’s has helped shape me into the person I am today. I’m not ashamed of my Tourette’s (in fact, I’m almost proud of it), and I feel that it has helped make me a better person.

I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in the fifth grade, at the age of ten. I’ve suffered from vocal and motor tics since I was in the second grade. Neither I nor my parents understood what caused them, and my teachers and other students would often become frustrated with me. Even my own family would grow tired of my constant noise-making and movements. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Eventually, someone told my mother to look into Tourette Syndrome. I was finally diagnosed with Tourette’s in the fall of 2008.

Instead of letting my Tourette’s drag me down, I used my diagnosis as motivation to better myself. I began taking karate lessons later the same year after my diagnosis. In eighth grade, I decided to play football. It was a rough season, but it ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Football gave me an outlet in which to channel my frustration. I was never a great athlete, but I worked hard, so by my senior year, I had earned a starting varsity spot on my high school’s football team.

In my junior year, I participated in a research study for a new Tourette’s medication. This was done at Overlook Hospital, in Summit, New Jersey, under the supervision of Dr. Roger Kurlan. The medicine worked well for me. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to be able to possibly help others with Tourette’s.

In conclusion, Tourette Syndrome is a part of my life. My experiences with Tourette’s have greatly contributed to the person that I am today. I’m not ashamed of my Tourette’s, instead I embrace it as part of who I am. I have never let my Tourette’s drag me down, and I hope to inspire others with Tourette’s to embrace it and use it as motivation to better themselves as well.

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