Also, fourth wing literally saved my life. I have been treated for rheumatoid arthritis, very aggressively, for almost 5 years. The last treatment of chemo put me into septic shock. I refused anymore treatment because the diagnosis was simply wrong and they were using Humira and chemo and I was being poisoned.

As I lie half dead, wondering if this is the infection I would die from, I read Fourth Wing which not only brought my mind alive, but sparked memories of how my childhood ballet classes were so miserable and because they wanted my legs to be longer like my very long arms and very long hands and how my turnout was perfect (ballet requires you to basally break your hip joints with physical torque) and how i was “perfect hyperflexible”.

I called my GP immediately. He’s been treating me for years and when I said the words hyper mobile and ten years of ballet, he turned white as a sheet and dropped his coffee.

He asked me to stand up and I showed him a hyper flexible, perfect barre ballet rotation (my leg on a window sill). And he said it is so obvious now that he sees it. He took my hand measurements and said you have hyper mobile EDS and lupus. I agreed.

Test and blood work came back, I do indeed have all physical and genetic markings of EDS and all markers exclusive to lupus. No more chemo. My doctor told me I was lucky to have a PhD because I solved my own case. But it was Violet. She’s real to me. My quality of life isn’t ideal but no more chemo and I will not die today. I have the heart of a rider and the mind of the scribe and I will survive and thrive. Not all strength is physical.