Payton Harris was going to the doctor's office for a routine health screening when they were met with unexpected news.
“They found that I had a bone tumor my sophomore year, and I was in a neuroscience class … I was told by the professor that, hey, maybe I’m not cut out for this major,” Harris said.
Harris is a neuroscience student who plans to become a research scientist. They also have psoriatic arthritis and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), two chronic illnesses that significantly affect their BYU experience.
Emilee Humphreys and Kevin Lunt are also BYU students with chronic pain. The experiences of these three students highlight the challenges that students with chronic illnesses must face as they seek to progress in their careers and education.
Harris has been managing chronic illness since they were ten years old, but when they got to college, the additional responsibilities of living alone made it much more difficult to focus on their studies.
“It was actually my first big flare-up of arthritis in college that made me have to ditch my dream of going to medical school, which was really tough,” Harris said.
Harris shared that they began experiencing heart problems in their junior year of college and was later diagnosed with POTS. They ended up spending 18 hours in the ER, just before their neuroanatomy final.
“That relief when I did well on it was just like, 'Oh my gosh, I did it. I managed to persevere,'” Harris said.
Harris finished this semester of finals with a bad case of bronchitis as a result of taking immune suppressing medications for their psoriatic arthritis.
While Harris feels BYU has been incredible in providing accommodations, they feel that simple things like handicapped door buttons are often overlooked.
Humphreys, a cell biology and physiology major, struggles with chronic migraines and cluster headaches.
Even as a kid, she would get frequent headaches and have to miss school. It was not until high school that she was diagnosed with cluster headaches.
“Going to university, it was always a plan for me, but it was something that I had to take into consideration of just how I would manage it. If something did occur, what I would do?” Humphreys said.
She explained that she has had to learn to practice good communication with her professors and peers so that they are able to offer her support if she cannot come to class.
“I have had some professors that have conversations … ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do?’ and things like that. And you know, the second that they saw that drive and they saw the determination to do it, they were more than willing to help,” Humphreys said.
Lunt, a graduate student studying structural engineering, has chronic pain in his upper back as a result of a tennis injury that never quite healed.
“They tried all kind of different kinds of things, and it’s been a year and a half and it still hasn’t healed,” Lunt said.
Lunt’s injury occurred just before his first semester of graduate school, after which he took a break from academics to focus on finding answers for the pain he has been experiencing.
“I have (it) a little bit more under control, but the pain’s still always there. It’s just less often that it’s an eight out of ten rather than a five out of ten of pain,” Lunt said.
The pain in his back prevents Lunt from being able to work on projects for a long time, making his progression through graduate school difficult. It also makes it difficult for him to sit in a classroom without good back support.
“I bring a chair from my professor’s office that’s a little bit nicer and then roll it in there and then sit there for class,” Lunt said.
Lunt had a difficult time getting in touch with University Accommodations after missing his first appointment for a last-minute procedure. His professors have been very supportive, though, and allow him to video call into office hours instead of having to come in person.
Amid all the challenges, these students have learned a great deal from their experiences.
“I feel like there’s very much a culture here that’s like, 'If you’re not suffering, what are you doing?' And we don’t need to be suffering through college, especially when suffering for people with chronic illness is a lot different,” Harris said.
Lunt shared his gratitude at the timing of his injury.
“If I was in my undergrad, I don’t know how I’d do it,” Lunt said.
Humphreys shared an experience where she was able to get through a weekend with four different tests.
“I was able to finish the test and then it was the next day that I had a migraine … The Lord kind of helped to make sure that I could finish those tests,” Humphreys said.
Harris also stressed the importance of giving yourself grace when you fall short of what you wish you could accomplish.
“Your path is not the same as everyone else’s path, and the four-year graduation path is not the same for everyone. College is very much individualized, and we need to take advantage of that instead of feeling like we’re falling behind,” Harris said.