Please do understand....

I recieved a letter from a 17 year old kid. The moment i read it, it just blowed my heart away, empathy began to rise. The kid told me to post this in the site hoping to touch the hearts of parents and other people who has a loved one with TS. I immediately posted for the same purpose. This is very special to me because this is a filipino kid with TS, and an intelligent one!
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Hi, i came across your site and im impressed with all the information you got here. This is what i usually do if im not at school...browsing the internet for some stuff. Anyway, i wouldn't want to give off my name ( hiya ako eh! baka sa susunod may guts na ako :-) ) i wrote to just let out the feeling i've been having for a very long time. i was diagnosed to have TS when i was just 10. at first sabi ko sa sarili ko...ano yun???? parang kakaiba yata! i understood my disorder when mama explained to me everything. honestly nung yung doctor and nag-explain..wala akong naintindihan. anyway, good thing my mom had her way to explain it all to me. i knew then that i was different. nagpasalamat na lang ako na hindi maapektuhan ang aking pag-iisip. dibah?! mahirap para sakin...for the reason that most people don't have a clue what's happening to me. alam mo, naisip ko na lang i don't need to explain anything to them. pero minsan parang kelangan ko na ring iexplain just to let them know that this is what i've been going through for 7 years already. it's been very difficult. sometimes its not even the disorder anymore...it's what other people would say or think about me. maybe they were thinking that i'm crazy! i hope people can really be educated about the disorder. i know there are a lot out there that are being diagnosed with Tourettes everyday. family support is a big thing....if my family would not support me, i wouldn't be as positive as i am right now. next is public education, so they will know the reasons behind the ticcing. next is professional support in all aspects ( physical and more on psychological). and i more thing...i hope doctors will empathise to the one being diagnosed... minsan kasi nahahalatang bigay lang ng bigay ng gamot okay na. it's more than the medicines actually. other kids out there wanna be healed emotionally...not really physically.
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the letter is a very powerful one, inviting people from all walks of life to understand somebody who has Tourettes. I hope this letter can be viewed as one of the reasons we have to embrace what we have and not be ashamed of it. If you have your own story please send it so that other people will become aware that they are not alone.