Up until my mid-30s, I wasn’t sure if I would live a full life. It was scary and confusing. Having gone through it and come out on the other side has been a primary motivator behind my career working in healthcare and life sciences.
I have hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare genetic disease that causes unpredictable episodes of swelling throughout the body. When that swelling affects the airway, it can be life-threatening. Without treatment, the mortality rate from HAE airway attacks is approximately 30%.
My symptoms started when I was about six years old. By sixth grade, I was suffering from severe abdominal attacks and missed half the school year. I missed half of tenth grade as well and continued to struggle with unexplained symptoms throughout college.
During my childhood, my parents took me to countless doctors trying to find answers. We saw pediatricians, general practitioners, internists, gastroenterologists and eventually even a psychiatrist.
I wasn’t correctly diagnosed until I was 34.
The thing about HAE is that it is incredibly unpredictable. My early 30s brought laryngeal attacks, including three in the span of just two weeks. Each one sent me to the ER. By chance, the physician who treated me during the first attack was also there when I came in for the third. He told me it was some type of angioedema, but he didn’t know what was causing it.
I went home and started researching.
I found a local physician conducting a clinical trial for hereditary angioedema and called the office. I told them I thought I might have HAE. Their initial response was that it was very rare and unlikely, but they asked me to explain why I thought I had it.
I shared my history, and they agreed to test me. I will always be grateful to that physician for taking me seriously and agreeing to do the testing. That decision changed my life.
About two weeks later, I got the call. The test was positive.
My first thought was, “Oh my gosh.” The bad kind.
And then pretty quickly it became, “Oh my gosh.” The good kind.
After nearly three decades, I finally knew what was wrong with me.
Around that period of my life, my disease became severe enough that I spent two years on disability. Today, thanks to treatments that weren’t available to me for most of my life, I’ve been back at work for more than 17 years.
I got my life back.
And that’s why the work I do has never been just a job to me.
I could recruit leaders in any number of industries, but there is a very personal reason I chose healthcare and life sciences executive search. I know what it means when science advances, when a researcher discovers something, when a clinical trial succeeds and when a company gets a therapy to people who need it.
I know what it means when a patient finally gets an answer because I was that patient. And I know what it means when the right leaders are in place to make all of that possible.
My work spans healthcare and life sciences, including diagnostics, therapeutics, medical technology, research tools, services and more. I know the impact these organizations can have on people’s lives because I’ve lived it.
I’m incredibly grateful for the scientists, physicians, investors, patient advocates, companies and countless others who changed the trajectory of my life.
They gave me my life back.
Helping put great leaders into organizations that are working to do the same for other people is a pretty wonderful way to spend a career.