I May Be Small, But I Have Loud Roar! by Rylynn Wasson

My name is Rylynn (pronounced Rye-Lynn) Wasson. I am almost 14 and only found out last summer that I have Turner syndrome (TS). I am in eighth grade at a school that only has like 58 students in all of the middle school. I enjoy reading and music. I love playing games and hanging out with my best friends, Eva and Addie. I am a cheerleader at my school and I just started drama in January.

My favorite music is from the musical Hamilton and the online musical Epic. I am really into Greek mythology right now and want to read The Odyssey. I love dragons and enjoyed reading all of the Wings of Fire books.

I love music so much! So when I found out that I had to get hearing aids due to my progressive hearing loss, it was really hard. I was in a very dark place, at first. But with the encouragement and support from my family, friends and my cheer coach, they inspired me to go from feeling depressed about it to being an advocate to the other kids at my school who also struggle with wearing hearing aids. My Mom even found these cool stickers to match our school colors for cheer. In fact we are working hard to make T-shirts for my cheer team in February to support Turner Syndrome awareness, if we can get approval from the school in time.

At first I was very nervous about being diagnosed, but the doctors I see at Children’s Hospital are the best and help me out. My Mom, brothers and my grandparents have all been super in making me feel special and embrace my uniqueness. I may not be like the other girls at school and church, but I am proud to be who and what I am. I may be small, but I have a loud roar!