Name: Kadence Foley
Age: 22
Where do you call home? Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
What is your education [degree(s)]? What is a current goal you have with your education? How will FA add to your future [career]? I am taking digital marketing at Mount Royal University. I just finished my two-year program and am going to be taking more classes in the same field to continue and grow my knowledge for this path. I’m not sure of what kind of future these courses will lead me to, but I’m hoping for something like website design or creating social media postings.
Who do you live with? I live with my mom and my service dog, Apollo.
What’s a typical day for you? My usual day routine consists of me working only twice a week at the boys and girls club as an admin assistant and going to the gym the other two. Other than that, I am hanging out with friends or watching shows on Netflix.
How long have you known you are living with FA? When and how were you diagnosed? I found out nine years ago that I have FA. My little sister, Addy, was diagnosed first. My mom and family noticed she was falling and tripping a lot, so they took her to a doctor, and after a few misdiagnoses, they figured out it was FA. A few years later, my mom started to notice me falling, so the doctors diagnosed me with FA as well.
Are there any others with FA in your family? Just my little sister and I have FA in our family.
Describe an adaptation and/or transition you have had to take due to living with FA. Once I was diagnosed, I didn’t want to use a walker, so I did my best to get help from people or teachers, getting around or skipping crowds. Once I got into high school, the teachers were worried about me having accidents, so they told me I had to stay in my chair during school. After high school, I realized that I wasn’t able to walk independently anymore, so I became a full-time wheelchair user.
What do you like to do to stay active, and what type of exercises work for you to stay strong? I try to go to the gym a few times a week, working on mostly strength and stretching.
Do you have any hobbies or special interests? I have gotten into drawing and building LEGOs.
What is a good trick to make daily life easier? I’m very open to telling people about my needs, so I always speak up and tell others what would make things easier.
When FA gets you down, what do you think/do to feel better? When I become down from the FA, I usually try to find a distraction like building legos or just watching a show.
What is one way living with FA has POSITIVELY affected your life? Having FA has shown me what being “not normal” feels like and how those who can walk are very unaware of how lucky they are to do the things I can’t do in a chair. I run low on patience, but having FA and being in public, I have to learn that not everyone can see or hear me. FA has given me many different ways of looking at people and how much they see their surroundings and how aware they are.
What is the first thing you want to do when a cure/treatment for FA is found? “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says “I’m Possible.” -Audrey Hepburn
“I have FA, but FA doesn’t have me.” What does this statement mean to you? Even though I may be in a chair and unable to do the things everyone else can do, I’m still human. I may have more needs than others, but that doesn’t make me different from other people.
How do you live your life in the face of adversity? I always find it difficult to “fit in” because I’m always aware of the stares and questions. I’m aware people might just be curious, but I always find it rude to stare and ask questions when the person in the chair is the same as you, but is in a chair and has different needs. I always have ways to make it better by showing a smile when people stare or making it funny when people ask why I’m in a chair, so people don’t look at me differently.
Tell us a little more about you…. My sister and I were both diagnosed with FA in 2015. When my sister, Addy, was 13, she got sick and passed. I was only 16, so I didn’t understand much of what was going on. She passed in July, so going back to school in the fall, I had little motivation, so I wanted to start my school year online, but I decided to be in school because being around friends filled my heart. Once I was in grade 12, I was diagnosed with epilepsy and diabetes at the same time when I woke up one morning with a seizure. After that, it took me a while to get back to school again. Once I felt better and was able to go back to school, the teachers took very good care of me and helped accommodate my classes so that I could graduate.
After I graduated, I took a gap year to look into things for me to do with my future. While I was doing that, I found a program called Breaking Barriers (BB). BB was a program that finds and prepares you for your future job hunting. They helped me find my job that I’m still working at, the Boys and Girls Club. I was then able to find out what I wanted to do for my future, so I signed up at Mount Royal University and took Digital Marketing. I just graduated and got a certificate. I’m hoping this certificate can bring me lots of opportunities to find more!
Interviewed by
Brittany Sommerfield
Edited by
Bree Lessard