In high school, my favorite activity was Color Guard. It’s a sport about creating choreography and creating shows with popular music and competing at different schools. I loved Color Guard. It was – and still is – my passion, but I was unable to continue when I was diagnosed with ITP because of the equipment involved that you must toss in the air and catch.

I didn’t think much of the risk. My director had choreography that involved us going on the floor and I would always get hit in the head before I knew I had ITP.

After I graduated high school, my mom noticed bruises all over my legs even though I was done with Color Guard, and then I noticed a rash on both of my feet that went up my legs. I would hide the rash with long pants. My mom thought it wasn’t normal and did some research and discovered the possibility of ITP.

We went to my pediatrician who identified the rash as petechiae. My mom made an appointment with another doctor and that doctor told me I have ITP. She told me I had to quit Color Guard when I went to college and to not do anything dangerous that would risk an injury to my head. My Color Guard dream was over, but I knew my health came first.

Thank you so much for letting me speak out about my ITP.