Brianna Albers (she/her) is a crip-cyborg storyteller living in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 in 1996 and lives with co-occurring physical and mental health conditions. By day she works as an advocate, bridging disability and mental health awareness to empower people to live their best lives; by night, she dabbles in imagination, and is currently writing “An Angel in the Garden,” an adult space fantasy with #OwnVoices disability representation. Find her online at briannahopealbers.com and on social media @briehalbers.
I’ve been putting off this column for months, I guess in the hopes that it’d become easier to write. I didn’t want to go public until I knew for sure that everything was going…
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Content warning: This column discusses medical trauma. Last in a series. Read part one here. I knew something was wrong when I started throwing up. After an eight-hour wait in an emergency room…
Content warning: This column discusses medical trauma. First in a series. Who really knows what time it is? 11? 12? 1? Time blurs when you’re on the precipice of something that will throw…
When I chose my theme for 2024, I didn’t expect to take it for a spin before the year even started. Every December, I start thinking about a word or phrase that will guide…
On a Sunday morning in mid-November, I opened my email to a newsletter from one of my favorite writers, Catherine Andrews. In it, she named the past 15 years of her life as…
The clock ticked accusingly on the wall. A lab technician had been inspecting my arm for the better part of 10 minutes, all in search of a vein that would put out a nominal…
Some people live for cold weather. They hate the heat, for some strange, inexplicable reason, and live for the day when they can pull out their chunky knit sweaters and thick, fuzzy socks. I…
Every person with SMA deserves to have comprehensive care and to know they'll be taken care of, no matter what happens, from birth to death, says patient advocate Brianna Albers.
First in a series. “What was your support system like growing up?” I was on the phone with a researcher from Augustana University in South Dakota. We were discussing my transition from pediatric to…
Growing up, my pediatrician was more than a doctor; she was part of the family. She supported me through all of life’s transitions, from puberty and menstruation to my transition to adult care when…
I’d just survived a car accident in Phoenix while road tripping with my parents from our home in Minnesota to the 2022 Cure SMA conference in Anaheim, California. (Long story short, my…
In another world, I am my mother’s daughter, waking with the sunrise and heading to bed no later than 9 p.m. But in reality, I take after my father, who sees early risers as…
Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with Evrysdi (risdiplam). Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. On our way home…
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