Abbvie

I always wanted the glamorous lifestyle. I love the drama, the creativeness, the freedom that it gives you. When you're a burlesque performer you can be all the embodiment of everything you've ever wanted to be but even through that I was mindful of my condition. I'm Kerry Harris and I was first diagnosed with HS back in 2008. My experience when I first went to a GP was interesting because they didn't know what it was and my GP's response was really that I needed to lose weight. It wasn't until I then started to look up and think there was something more than this that I discovered this condition of HS. And it was then that I went back to my GP and said I think this is what I've got. They thought okay this might be the case and I was then referred to a specialist. HS has affected my life and work in many, many ways. Mainly self confidence and feeling comfortable with myself was biggest, concern for me. It affects you, from the moment you wake up. You wake up, you get dressed, by the time you come downstairs, you've got blood and staining on your clothing, so you have to shower, get dressed again. So you're tired before you've even left the door. And then you go into the office, take the spare dressings with you to work, you go into meetings, you try and act professional. You don't want to have your condition belittled as to something with spots. It's something much more than that. Has a huge physical and psychological impact. It can for many people result in huge areas of depression. So it's important that doctors and GPs do recognise what HS is and are aware of what help and support is out there. My condition has not stopped me in any way from doing what I love. If anything, it's given me the drive to do something, to not let my condition control my life and for me to control my condition. It was you are not gonna take over my life. You are not gonna be the all and everything. I'm gonna conquer you, and I'm gonna conquer you by going on a stage and actually showing my skin, showing my scars. And I'm gonna be better than that. It is so important to get up there and to just to do things. Isolation will just bring you down. And if you meet new people, it's just wonderful. Sometimes it gives you an opportunity to talk and learn and share, which is really, really important. Bless changed my life in so many ways and I have HS bizarrely to thank for that because instead of internalising the condition and the bad feelings I had about myself and my body, It gave me the push I needed to do something. It's probably the first time in my life that I am actually happy with who I am and that's a really good place to be and all it takes is a different thought process. It's not letting something control your life and actually you taking control of your life but it changes your world for so much better. I always wanted the glamorous lifestyle. It just took me a long time to get there. So I'd like to think it was thirty six years in the planning, which meant that I was really prepared when I actually got there.

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