Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Meet a Member Wednesday – Jenna R



It's Meet a Member Wednesday, and this week we meet Jenna R! Jenna is from Springfield, MA and currently lives in Belchertown, MA. She is a full-time college student studying graphic design.
 Jenna has a very creative and artistic eye for photography and drawing which led her to want to make a career out of it. She loves traveling to Cape Cod and going to Disney World with her family. Jenna doesn’t let XLH define her or stop her from chasing her dreams. She says she finds herself to be stronger and work harder than those who do not have XLH. At the young age of only 18 months, Jenna’s parents noticed she walked different from other kids her age. They brought her to pediatrician who referred her to Shriners. There, it was confirmed through bloodwork that she had XLH. There are no other known family members with XLH. Before starting the new treatment this past December, Jenna took K-PHOS and Calcitriol for 17 years but XLH still greatly affected her teeth for 16 of those years. Having 27 abscesses, she is hopeful the new treatment will improve her teeth, as it has already improved her level of pain and has helped her feel better. Jenna’s family found The XLH Network 15 years ago, when one of the only forms of communication was through email. When asked what the Network means to her and her family, Jenna said, “Being a spontaneous case, my parent’s didn’t know anything about XLH. The Network has helped us communicate with other people and learn more about XLH.”

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