I was Taught to Come Up with Solutions - by Barbara Deese

Hi, my name is Barbara Deese. I was diagnosed with Turner syndrome (TS) at 15 years old. I kept getting ear infections, and my primary doctor was concerned because of my short stature and lack of progression towards puberty. So he ordered a karyotype, which showed I was missing a part of the long arm of the second X chromosome in all of my cell lines.

My parents never treated me any different from my siblings and taught me to come up with solutions and not to use this as a crutch. I struggled some with math, but with some extra tutoring and guidance, graduated high school with honors.

I worked in retail successfully as a department manager for twenty years. My husband and I got married a couple years after high school, and we decided after 13 years of marriage, to expand our family through adoption. We got licensed to be foster parents and took in two beautiful girls. Their adoption became final 13 months later, and the following month, we took in their newborn biological brother to keep the family together.

When Covid hit, I decided to go back to school to pursue my dream of teaching. I graduated with my associates in 2021 and then bachelor’s summa cum laude in 2022. Never give up your dreams or allow TS to define who you are!