Meet Jennifer — A Veteran, a Pilot, a Mother, and a Fighter

Jennifer is not just a patient with rare diseases.
She is a U.S. veteran, a mother, a wife, an aviator, and a woman who has fought for her country and continues to fight every single day—not on a battlefield, but within her own body and against a medical system that too often chose disbelief over compassion.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and entered flight training with the same dedication, discipline, and courage she showed in the military. Flying was her dream, her passion, and her future. But as her health rapidly deteriorated, she was forced to ground her wings—not because she lacked the ability — but because her body began failing her in ways doctors could not understand, or worse, would not believe.

A Medical Journey Marked by Rare Disease, Pain, and Misdiagnosis

Jennifer lives with a complex constellation of life-altering conditions, including:

• Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS)

• Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) with papilledema

• Cranio-cervical instability & atlanto-axial instability

• Possible low-pressure CSF leak

• Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID)

• Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

• Gastroparesis

• Severe Dysautonomia / POTS / Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia

• Venous sinus stenosis

• Rudimentary vertebral artery

• Chronic fatigue syndrome

• Blood pooling & circulation issues

• Migraine disorder

• Frequent dislocations and joint instability

These conditions affect her daily life in ways most people will thankfully never experience:

• Severe headaches and pressure that make simply standing unbearable

• Dizziness, fainting spells, and rapid heart rate just from sitting up

• Constant neck instability that risks spinal cord injury

• Digestive and nutritional struggles

• Immune deficiency requiring ongoing treatment

• Chronic fatigue so crushing that basic tasks can become impossible

• Pain that never truly shuts off

And yet — she wakes up every day and pushes forward. For her children. For her family. For life.

The Other Battle: Being Believed

Jennifer’s medical struggle has been as much about being heard as it has been about being treated.

Despite serving her country, despite collapsing health, despite objective findings…
she has been dismissed, brushed off, and repeatedly gaslit by parts of the medical system — including the very VA system meant to protect its veterans.

She has been told:

“It’s just anxiety.”
“You’re too young for something this serious.”
“These symptoms don’t make sense.”
“We don’t see anything wrong.”
“You look fine.”

She has been shuffled from provider to provider, sometimes denied timely imaging, sometimes told her suffering was exaggerated or stress-related — all while her body was silently deteriorating.

Rare disease patients often become experts in their own conditions out of necessity. Jennifer researched, documented, and persisted — because she had to.
She fought for every appointment.
Every test.
Every answer.

She is alive today not because the system caught her disease early, but because she refused to give up when the system gave up on her.

A Life Interrupted — But Never Defined by Defeat

Jennifer didn’t lose her dream of flying because of lack of talent or dedication — she lost it because her health collapsed, and nobody could tell her why.

She didn’t stop chasing opportunity — opportunity was stripped away by illness and disbelief.

She didn’t choose a life of specialists, hospital visits, insurance battles, and endless fatigue — this life chose her.

And yet she remains:

• A fighter

• A believer

• A protector of others

• A mother raising two children despite obstacles most people cannot imagine

• A veteran who already sacrificed once — and continues to sacrifice every day

She has given her body to service. She has given her dreams to disease.

But Jennifer’s story does not end with loss — it rises into purpose.

Through every appointment, every unanswered question, every moment of doubt and dismissal, she realized something profoundly painful yet undeniably true:

She was not alone — and that was the problem.

There are thousands like her:
Warriors living in bodies that betray them,
Fighters dismissed by doctors who don’t understand,
Patients traveling across the country for specialists,
Families drowning under medical costs insurance won’t touch,
People suffering quietly because no one ever believed them.

Jennifer refused to let her struggle be just another hidden story.
Instead, she turned it into a mission — one bigger than herself.

And from that mission, The Connective Tissue Project was born.

Her New Flight Path

She may not be in a cockpit today,
but she has found a new way to lift others.

Through The Connective Tissue Project, Jennifer is working to:

• Support patients seeking answers and specialists

• Provide resources for travel and uncovered medical care

• Educate families and communities about rare conditions

• Advocate for earlier diagnosis and proper treatment

• Build a network where patients are believed, not dismissed

• Bring awareness to the silent suffering millions experience

This is not just a foundation —
it is a lifeline, a voice, and a movement for those who have been overlooked and unheard.

Jennifer once trained to fly through storms.
Now she fights to help others survive theirs.

Her wings may have been grounded,
but her mission has taken flight —
and she won’t stop until every patient battling the unseen has a place to turn,
a community that understands,
and a chance to rise again.

The Connective Tissue Project exists because no one should have to fight alone.

And with your support,
Jennifer is turning pain into purpose —
and rewriting the story for countless others still searching for hope.